We Are Young
by CapitanGigglesLordOfTheFaeries
Summary: Matthew is stuck in the shadow of his super hero relatives, but when he comes back from summer, things change.
1. Prologue Last day of school

_Hetalia. Ain't mine. I want it to be, but alas it isn't. If it was there would be a lot of porn, wait, isn't that what it is now?_

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><p><strong>We are young.<strong>

**Prologue. Last day of school and being useless.**

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><p>Hetalia Academy was a bit… Different from other high schools.<p>

In the same way that a cheeseburger with a strawberry shake and jumbo curly fries is different from a 5 course meal including of caviar, pochouse, bouillabaisse, gougere and finishing off with a dessert of cheeses, coffee and pastries.

Matthew was a 15, soon to be 16 year old student and he hated his school with a passion.

Every year in high school people would say they were a special kind of different. Young adults who would grow up to help the world… or destroy it, depending on what extra courses you took.

Matthew WISHED he was that kind of different. He was just an average human who got sucked into going to a Meta human ruled school by his cousins.

Have any of you ever gone to a school where people can read your mind, vibrate through walls, and catch fire? No? Good, you DON'T want to know what its like.

And when you have no powers, YOU are now the odd one out of everything. Matthew couldn't participate in gym without the risk of a few broken bones, or take extra courses because he didn't have the 'qualifications'. Hell, he could barely order from the cafeteria without getting something meant for someone for a stupidly high metabolism.

Contrary to popular belief, his ability to 'disappear' or 'turn invisible' was not a super power. It was a consequence of having the schools best 'hero-to-be' as your cousin-who-likes-to-call-himself-your-brother. He absolutely HATED being Matthew Williams, also known as "Who?" It made him feel… useless, like he was just another random body. No, worse than that. He really couldn't describe it.

He just felt…non-existent. He had no identity outside of his brother's shadow.

Of course it didn't help that he looked similar to Alfred, and had trouble raising his voice.

So on the last day, he wasn't at all upset about the decision to travel for the summer.

Of course that wasn't the same view of his cousin Alfred.

"But Mattie! You can't go away for the summer! Who's gonna hang out and watch scary movies with me?"

Ugh, not even lunch and he was getting this.

"Because Al, I just want to go places, grow a bit. And you've been hanging out with other people, I'm sure that one of them will watch 'The Hills Have Eyes' with you. Like Kiku, you two are close, or Arthur! Besides I told you this in March when I first decided this."

"You did?" Alfred had this dazed look on his face. It made Matthew want to punch him, SO HARD. But he wasn't in the mood to break his knuckles.

"Yes! You were at my house, it was the same day you wanted to play 'Amnesia', but I wouldn't let you until it was morning."

"Oh yeah! Sorry Mich."

"Matt." Was it really so hard for Alfred to remember his name at times? He knew that he was invisible, but was it so bad that not even his COUSIN could tell who he was?

"Right, sorry."

The two were in the middle of the hallway. People were dodging Alfred and bumping into Matthew, looking through him when they turned around to see what they hit. It was like this every day, no one noticed him. The future villains didn't even destroy his locker on April fools day!

Alfred didn't say any thing; he looked a bit guilty actually, "Look, Matt, if this is because-"

RIIINGG!

The blond was cut off by the first bell, "I'll talk to you later ok Al?"

"Sure…"

Matthew turned and hurried to his class, not wanting to be marked absent.

Oh, who was he fooling? He would be anyway. Matthew always had to prove to his teachers that he was in class, instead of skipping. Then he would be late to his next class…it was a never-ending cycle.

Luckily exams had been finished on Tuesday, it was just a formality for a last day of class so teachers could discipline certain students and hand out forms for next year yada yada yada.

While Mr. Bedishmit droned on about not using powers outside of called duties, and punishing his grandson Gilbert, Matthew stared at the clock. After about 35 minutes, he began doodling on his arm with sharpie. When the lunch bell rang, Matthew slowly got up and left when everyone else was gone.

Lunch was the same as every other day, eating on the roof. (Or in colder weather, the stairwell.) Up on the roof, everything was quiet. Matthew could think and be alone without someone acting as if he was a ghost.

The blond could see the skyline, and the hills and mountains behind the skyscrapers. And, if Matthew closed his eyes and let go, he could, almost, ALMOST, imagine that he was flying over it all.

Just today, it looked a bit suffocating.

Matthew didn't eat his lunch.

The last class of the day, Matthew sent a text to Alfred.

"I'm going straight home then I'm gone, so if you want to say goodbye, meet me outside the school.

-Matt."

After staring at the little second hand make its way around the clock a good 5,400 times, the bell rang and Matthew bolted it out the door.

He ran to his locker, stuffed his bag full of all the inane shit that he kept in there, and ran outside to his beat up pickup truck.

He waited a few minutes till he saw Alfred leaving school with his friends. When his cousin flipped open his phone, and kept walking away, Matthew started the engine and drove home. Fast.

Matthew unlocked the front door, and threw his backpack on his leather couch. He checked that the water, gas and electricity were off, grabbed his suitcase and his carryon bag, double-checked his information and passport were in order, and headed back out the door.

"C'mon Kuma, time to go!" Matthew called out, and a little polar bear cub bounded from around the backyard.

"Go?" His pet was cute and massively loyal, but just a bit dumb. Matthew didn't care though, he felt like Christopher Robin.

"Yep, we're going on a trip."

"Oh." Kumajirou waddled into the passenger side of his truck.

Matthew locked the door, and walked back to his car.

The entire drive to the outer city airport Matthew didn't look back in the mirror.


	2. Chapter 1 Old school, new skills

People hijacking my account for a day...yeah. here's chapter two...ive been told Matthew sounds like a hooker here. what's your opinion?

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><p>Ch.2. Old city, new skills.<p>

A busted up, dirty pickup parked in font of a two story house. The driver hopped out of the truck and pulled two black suitcases out of the back seat.

He opened the front door, brining a small polar bear with him.

"Home sweet home, eh Kumajuju?" Matthew Williams took stock of his house. A bit dusty, but nothing had been stolen. Either Alfred had kept watch or he and everything he owned was still invisible to the city.

He took a glance towards his backpack on the couch, and noted that his forms to enter school next week were handed in for him.

So Alfred had been here, ok then.

It was a nice gesture, sure, but Matthew was hopping to go to a different school this year. Oh well. It would be impossible anyway; no high school would accept transfers from Hetalia Academy.

Kuma was already settling back into his bed upstairs (the foot of Matthews), when said blond brought up his suitcases. Thump! On the bed they go, and Matthew is fast at work putting his clothes back in his closet.

"I think I need new jeans and a few new shirts, Kuma." It was true, all his jeans, sweatpants, and most of his shirts had some kind of hole or tear in them, stain on them or were too small now.

He had met some, uh… interesting people over the past two and a half months.

Matthew's glasses too, needed replacing. The frame was barely held together with duct tape, and the lenses were scratched and cracked beyond reason.

"I'll go tomorrow." There was a mumble from under the covers, and a shifting of blankets.

Matthew chuckled a bit and finished the first suitcase. He took a glance at the second one.

Staring at the black canvas for a few moments, Matthew pulled the entire bag into the back of his closet and pushed his laundry basket in front of it.

'There.' He thought.

Matthew turned around and was startled at his reflection in the full-length mirror. Ever since he left his house in June, Matthew hadn't had much time to take a look at himself.

He had grown a good two inches, and his hair reached his shoulders now. The Canadian thought he looked a bit like his cousin Francis. He had lost most of his baby fat, and replaced it with sinewy muscle. Taking off his shirt for a moment, his eyes trailed down his new scars and burns. Matthew noticed one long one run from his hip up the left side of his newly formed abs. He reached up and took off his glasses. Really he didn't need them that much now.

Maybe it was a trick of the light, but Matthew thought he looked confident, older, and less like his annoying cousin.

"Mathieu?" Make that ONE of his annoying cousins.

Struggling to get his shirt and glasses back on, the blond yelled "F-Francis! I'll be right down!"

In the front hallway was his older cousin, Francis.

(Ability: Seduction and high stamina. Weakness: Being hit in the 'vital regions'. But if you were strong enough, to get close enough, to land that kind of hit and not be seduced by Francis you were one out of a few million. Francis and his two best friends made up the second best villain group in the school.)

Alfred and Arthur (another of his cousins) didn't get along with Francis much. Probably because Francis made it his duty to piss both of them off, and he was a villain and his two other cousins were 'Heroes'. Matthew was probably the only person Francis hadn't tried to bed with.

"Oho, Mon Cher! Why did you not tell your dear Papa that you were leaving?" The Frenchmen proceeded to squeeze the life out of poor Matthew.

"F-Francis! Can't breath!"

"Oh! I'm so sorry mon Cher!" Francis let go and held Matthew at arms length. "How have you been? You have not called nor posted on your Facebook account! I had thought for a moment that you had died!"

"N-no, Francis, I just didn't have time to contact anyone."

"Ah, very well then, Mon Chou. Now let me get a look at you properly."

Matthew was dreading this. Three, two, one.

Francis gasped, "WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU WEARING?"

Matthew turned around and flinched. "Eh?" he replied dumbly. He was expecting it, didn't mean it wouldn't catch him off guard.

In a flash, Francis was walking around the other, taking stock of his appearance. "Your clothes! Did you not have any money to buy anything better? You know I would gladly get you a new wardrobe!"

Matthew did in fact have enough money from his various…summer jobs, to buy a new wardrobe and pay for a three-story house and a luxury car in cash. Was it such a big deal that his favorite pair of jeans had a rip on the knee and his shoes were falling apart?

"Are all your clothes like this? **Tisk** We MUST go and get you something suitable to wear at once!" his cousin was already pulling Matthew out and towards a red Jaguar.

Knowing that his cousin wouldn't stop until Matthew had agreed, the Canadian went

along with it.

For the next two hours, Matthew was subject to trying on every piece of clothing in his size in ever one of the 27 urban clothing stores in the city, Francis always nearby to give his approval or disapproval. Matthew flat out refused to wear anything that had no sleeves without some kind of sweater. He didn't want anyone to know what he did during the summer.

Matthew had to admit, it was nice to get some fashion advice. He had the fashion sense of gay clown.

So a good 3000 dollars and 15 bags later, Matthew was in his kitchen listening to Francis account of the major points of the summer.

"Arthur has burned two of his kitchens while you were gone, Antonio, Gilbert and I held a few bonfires and met some lovely new girls, oh and your brother," Matthew tensed. The little action did not go unnoticed by the Frenchmen. "Has kept his position as the next great hero. But enough about this drab town, what did you do over the summer?"

"Oh, nothing much. Just, the usual." Matthew wanted to change the subject, fast.

"Traveling across the great white north is nothing much? Come now Mon Chou, what did you do?"

"I went from town to town, had fun, met some new people, got into trouble, got out of it. The usual."

Francis knew something was up, but decided not to press the issue. He knew his cute cousin wasn't one to keep secrets. Matthew was smarter than his other relatives and wouldn't get into trouble.

"Alfred and Arthur have sent in your forms, but they signed you up for some quite random extra curricular activities. I'm not quite sure that they realize that with your ability, stealth is the better route to take."

Matthew gripped his glass of water tighter, resisting the temptation to kick Francis in the balls. Not even his cousin could tell he didn't have a super power! He was sure that Francis was just trying to keep a conversation, but it was taking some serious will power not to destroy him right then and there.

"Oh! Look at the time, I'm sorry Mathieu, I am late for a meeting with my friends. Make sure to tell the others that you are home!"

"Oui Papa."

Once Francis was outside the door, Matthew locked his front door and decided not to call anyone until tomorrow. He loved his cousin, he really did. But there was no denying that he was a snob and a bit of a whore.

Matthew's stomach growled loudly, demanding food. He hadn't eaten anything that day except for a sandwich on the plane and a small salad with Francis. A paw pulling at his new jeans also made Matthew aware that his pet was probably hungry too.

Only one problem, there was no food in the house. He didn't want to come home to a mold-infested kitchen so he had thrown out everything perishable.

The direct result now was that he needed to get some food and fast. He was STARVING! Weighing the options, Matthew decided on running to the convenience store and buying something and heading to the market tomorrow, now that he no longer needed to go clothes shopping. There was some kibble for Kuma. Sure the polar bear hated it but he would eat it when hungry enough, so Matthew didn't have to get some meat.

"Ill be back soon Kuma!" Running outside in barely laced up shoes, Matthew made a b-line for the convenience store. Making it there in 5 minutes, he grabbed some pop tarts, pizza pops, marshmallows and a bag of chips. Didn't say it would be healthy, it will just keep him alive long enough to go to the market tomorrow.

"Alfred!" Oh crap, he was dreading this! "Alfred is that you?" A voice called from behind.

"Um, I'm Matthew, Alfred's cousin." Matthew turned around and was face to face with Toris, one of Alfred's three thousand friends.

Toris looked a bit confused, "Who?"

That damned word stung against his ears.

Oh he was in NO mood for this shit. He was tired, hungry and now extremely pissed. He gave a firm "Excuse me," pushed past the confused Lithuanian, and ran outside the store. Luckily not forgetting his food.

Sprinting back to his house, he didn't notice hitting a group of people. All he wanted to do was get home fast, and eat.

Two minutes later, he was slamming the front door shut and stomping into the kitchen. He gave Kuma some kibble, and started to devour five packets of uncooked pop tarts and a handful of marshmallows.

Kumajirou sensed his master's mood and tensed up. Growling at nothing.

"Its ok, Kuma, I just got mad." The blond leaned down to pet the polar bear, smoothing out his fur.

"**Sigh** It's going to be a LONG year Kumajurio."

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><p>Cool so yeah, first story. And it's a chapter fic...what was i thinking? Anyway reviews would be nice...tell me if i should continue or not, and the like.<p> 


	3. Chapter 2 First Day

Ok cool! Thanks for the reviews everyone and a special thanks to Awesomeninja234, healingnymph, Loudheart14, and darkangel031089..(i think thats all of you) for faving.

By the way ive gotten a few questions about Matt calling Francis papa. in about 2 chapters you find out how the nickname came to be.

As a side note, it does say romance, but no Bella (Belgium) is not the pairing. And dont worry. Matthew will kick some hardcore ass sooner than you think...i just like pacing. but yeah still new to this so if you have and constructive criticism that would be awesomesause.

As a second side note, for courses i went with my schooling system because i didnt want to fail at copying another. so Core= math's, science's, languages, english and history and the like. Options such as art (or in this case flying lessons and ability control) would be elective.

Hetalia, not mine. blah blah blah. Enjoy!

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><p>Ch 2. First day.<p>

Matthew clutched his new schedule with an iron grip.

His cousins were idiots, and no amount of maple syrup would make up for that fact. Arthur had signed Matthew up for all of the extra courses that ALFRED would want. They were both idiots and needed to be fed to gophers.

Which is why Matthew was outside the deans office to change everything.

"Mr. Williams? The dean will see you now." Matthew noticed that she had actually seen him this time, instead of just turning her head every way possible.

'Well it's a start.' The blond thought optimistically.

The dean was a retired hero and grandfather of a pair of twins, the Vargas boys. Flamboyant and just a bit creepy, Matthew always wondered how HE became the dean of Hetalia High.

"Mr. Vargas?" He peeked into the massive office; not surprised to see it very brightly lit with a Mr. Vargas at his desk, practicing his ukulele.

"Ah! You must be Alfred's brother. Come here to change your schedule?"

"Um, I'm his cousin, and yes. I, uh, actually need to change all my options to core courses."

The dean stopped playing at once, "All of them? You sure?"

"Yes. I'd rather take languages and advanced Math and Sciences."

The dean looked at him like he had just grown three arms and an extra head. Hetalia wasn't well known for its academics. For obvious reasons.

"Are you sure about this Marcus? It will mean more work and exams each semester." Well it was a shaky step forward, but considering last year he didn't get the first letter of his name right it was a good start.

"It's Matthew sir, and yes. I want to do this."

The dean sighed, "Very well Michel, what courses would you like?" He turned on his computer and looked up Matthew's schedule.

"Advanced Mathematics I.B, Physics and Chemistry I.B, Spanish, and German. And it's Matthew sir."

"Ok, Matthew, but if you want to change later in the year it wont be a problem. Don't feel that you have to finish these if they become too hard." He held out the page with his new courses.

"Thank you for your concern sir, but I think I will be fine." Matthew made his way out the door, "Thanks for you time Sir."

Matthew looked over his timetable, memorizing the teacher's names and room numbers. First up was History and Social Studies.

Looking at the time, Matthew was pleased to see that he had a good 15 minutes till the first bell rang. Leisurely making his way to room 2018, Matthew noticed a few new kids looking for their classes.

Inside room 2018, a younger teen was sitting in the back, typing away on a laptop. He looked new, but then again Matthew didn't know that many people in the school. He had dark brown eyes, shoulder length black hair and massive eyebrows.

Well, may as well try to be friendly.

"Hi" Matthew squeaked, barely on an audible register, DAMN HIMSELF AND HIS SHYNESS!

The boy didn't turn from his computer, still typing on his keyboard. Matthew followed his fingers. Judging by the random keys he was hitting and the numbers in between letters, it was a computer program.

Of course computer programs were just gibberish to Matthew, so he had no idea what he could be possibly making.

It was ten minutes later when the boy stopped typing. The boy turned and looked Matthew over, sizing him up.

"Koaru." Koaru nodded to Matthew, and put his computer away. "Koaru Wang."

"M-Matthew Williams." He held out his hand, and, after a few minutes of Koaru staring at it, the other took it.

"So, um, where are you from?" Matthew didn't know how to start conversations easily.

"Hong Kong, my brother brought me here for schooling."

"Yao Wang?"

"Do you know him?" Koaru looked wary at this. The muscles in his shoulders tensed and his hands gripped his laptop a bit tighter

"N-Not personally, just the stories my cousin tells me." He really didn't know Yao, but Alfred owed him money. After that all Matthew knew was what he looked like and the vague fact that dragons liked him.

"Oh" Koaru looked much more relaxed.

Koaru fidgeted nervously for a few seconds, he looked like he wanted to say something.

"What…what is-"

RIIINNGGG!

'That's the second time that's happened.' Matthew thought offhandedly. "Sorry, could you repeat that?"

"Never mind." With that, Koaru was staring at the board, waiting for the lesson to start.

Another two classes of monotony later and Matthew was on the roof, eating three times his normal lunch.

What could he say? He had a much larger appetite now.

The view of the city looked different now, it looked a bit more open, and just a bit patronizing.

Matthew chalked this up to the fact that he had been through an entire country over a few weeks. Granted he had not been able to enjoy sight seeing at all, or had time to go off trail from his…uh, job. But still, a country vs. one metropolis. It dwarfs in comparison.

The roof was warm today, the sun spilling rays onto the gray tile. Shining against the steel guard bars and the polished black door. Small breeze and no cars driving by below, it was nice enough for someone to start dozing off.

Matthew closed his eyes, ready to take a nap on the roof, when his phone went off. Unintentionally making his head slip from his hand and crack against the guardrail.

'Shit!' Matthew mumbled, holding a bruised head in his hand, while simultaneously fumbling for his phone and stumbling about. Flipping the top open, Matthew was surprised at the blank text that filled his screen.

Purple eyes widened at the simple message.

….

The rest of the 2 classes left went by fast. Matthew was not phased by the workload that he would have to do in the next 9 months.

And just like that it was the last period of the day. Matthew was SO happy he had re done his timetable cause he had last period off. Today had been a good day, no run ins with Carlos; a jerk who kept mistaking him with Alfred and as a consequence he got beat up a lot for the mistake, and he hadn't seen his cousins all day!

Oh, wait, he hadn't called Alfred or Arthur yet! Crap! …Well, maybe Francis would have called them for him. Or hey! Maybe they didn't know and hadn't been bothering him because of that. And really, why spoil a good thing?

Hauling his backpack on his shoulders, Matthew started to walk home. The blond didn't use his truck. The twenty-minute drive was now a 15-minute run and a perfect warm up.

His route home was full of ledges and gaps, perfect practice for parkour, not to mention keep his muscles strong.

A jump here, a roll there, hopping from bar to bar, jumping up walls to haul his ass up a ledge. His arms starting to ache from strain, it felt great!

Within 10 minutes, he could see a path that led straight to his backyard. Pushing his legs, he sprinted to the back door.

WHAM! 'Safe!' The Canadian grinned. His hand slamming against the back door, Matthew noted that he made it home in under 15.

Once again, Matthew's phone went off, this time playing the 'Superman' theme song.

Sighing Matthew opened the phone "Hi Al-"

"MATTIE BRO! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOU WERE BACK!", Matthew held the phone at arms length, trying to get the ringing in his ears to stop.

"Keep your voice down you git! Matthew has normal ears!" Arthur was obviously with him. Matthew gripped his phone tighter.

"DUDE! WHY HAVENT YOU CALLED? ARE YOU EVEN AT SCHOOL? FRANCIS TOLD US YOU WERE HOME LIKE TWO MINUTES AGO!"

Matthew blinked for a second "Alfred how are you on the phone, don't you have class?"

"OH! I HAVE GYM RIGHT NOW SO IM JUST CALLING WHILE WE HAVE A BREAK!"

"**Sigh** Alfred, I was at school, I didn't call because I forgot, and before you ask I switched some courses so I'm not with you in any classes."

"WHAT? DUDE NOT COOL! WHY"D YOU SWITCH?"

"Give me that Alfred!" Matthew heard a bit of a struggle on the other end, probably Arthur trying to steal Alfred's phone.

"Matthew? It's me, Arthur. Sorry about Alfred, he's just upset that you haven't told us you were back."

"Right Arthur, sorry. I've just been busy."

"It's alright lad, we need to get back to class. I'll be over on Saturday, fine?"

"Kay, see you Arthur." The other line went dead.

Matthew sighed and looked down at his phone. He would be lucky if Arthur remembered that promise tomorrow.

Upstairs, Matthew flopped on his bed, narrowly avoiding a snoozing Kuma.

Matthew looked over his text one more time. "This is going to be a long, LONG year Kuma, I just know it."

His fingers started to form a reply, and within two minutes, the send button was pressed.

Not three minutes later, his phone went off for what felt like the tenth time in two hours.

Glazed eyes drinking in the pixilated text, Matthew groaned and was resenting the unavoidable need to get up and to work.

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><p>Inner city 11:26 P.M<p>

Bella KNEW she shouldn't have taken the shortcut to her house. Her instincts TOLD her that it was a bad idea, that something could go wrong.

She was really wishing she listened to that voice.

On her way home, she was chased by a couple of Meta humans. Without thinking, she ran into an alleyway, which had a dead end. Before she knew it, she was caught. A man clamped his hand over her mouth and one on her waist, pushing all his weight against her. While the rest stood behind him and watched. Her new blouse was torn down the front, and her skirt had a rip up the side.

Bella couldn't fight back; the man in front of her had super strength and she was outnumbered. There was no way her powers could get her out of this.

"Now play nice girly."

Bella tried to scream around the hand covering her mouth. She closed her eyes, tears streaming down her face. 'Please' she thought 'just be over soon.'

"What the- HGH!"

She felt the hands leave her face and hips, but she was too scared to open her eyes.

"WHY YOU! GHA!" A sickening CRACK filled the air.

The Belgian girl cracked open one eye slightly, shocked to see the thugs being thrown around like rag dolls by a cloaked man. On the ground, the leader of the gang was unconscious, a large lump on his head. One by one, they were taken down. The man looked as if he was dancing. Turning and moving like this was his natural environment. Kicking the crap out of people. Roundhouse into a floor sweep, a hand spring into bashing a mans face with his feet. All with inhuman grace and elegance.

And just like that, the last ones standing were Bella and the mystery man.

He walked up to her, she flinched.

Something warm was around her. His black jacket was around her shoulders, covering up her torn shirt. It smelt faintly of rain, pine trees and maple syrup. A comforting smell.

"The cops will be here in a few seconds." He barely looked back, walking deeper into the alleyway. Bella couldn't see his eyes or his hair, just his nose and below, before his hood covered his neck.

Sirens made Bella turn around "T-Thank you-" he was gone. She had only looked back for a second.

"Are you alright Miss?" An officer came out of a police car; other officers were cuffing the thugs up.

"Y-yes, I think I'm ok." She was ushered inside the back of a car, and within seconds, they were off to the police station. Bella looked back just in time to see a streak of black make its way over one of the buildings.

Her face suddenly felt a bit too hot.

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><p>Review please!<p> 


	4. Chapter 3 Day After

Short, I know, but I can post the second chapter by tonight if you people answer a question for me.

What would Cuba's superpower be?

But yes, thank you everyone for reviewing, and please continue to do so. ^_^ i am still a novice so any advice you have will be appreciated. And dont worry, things get really juicy next chapter. Just be patient. THANK YOU FOR READING!

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><p>Ch. 3 Day After.<p>

A retched ringing sound dragged Matthew out of his dreamland. He was having the nicest dream too. It involved pancakes, poutine and, for some odd reason, midget trolls.

Matthew opened his eyes, the world spinning slightly, and found that he had fallen out of his bed, sorta. His upper half was on the floor, while his legs were still on the bed, tangled in his sheets. Groaning, Matthew dragged his but out of bed, and fumbled around for his glasses.

Once he had found them, (on his desk) Matthew looked about for Kuma, and was not surprised to see him in a similar position as he was. His polar bear had his face on the ground, with all of his body at a 90-degree angle against the side of the bed. Kuma blinked one coal black eye at him.

"Hungry." No surprise that the only thing on his pet's mind was food.

"I'll get breakfast in a minute Kumamiro."

"Who?"

"Matthew, the guy who feeds you?"

"Oh."

Not too worried about what to wear, Matthew pulled out a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and a maple leaf hoodie.

After a quick breakfast of eggs and seal meat for Kuma, Matthew grabbed his backpack and pulled on his sneakers. (With high impact souls of course.) Ready for almost anything today.

Except maybe for what was waiting for him outside his front door.

"MATTIE!" A pair of super strong arms jumped out and locked themselves around Matthew's shoulders, pinning him against his cousin's chest.

"Al!"

"You happy to see your brother after a whole summer?"

"I'm… surprised! You couldn't wait till we were at school?" Matthew could feel his ribs straining as Alfred hugged the air in his lungs out.

"NU UH! I've missed you! And you disappear at school!" Alfred promptly squeezed harder.

"A-Al, I –c-an-n't BREATH!"

"Oh, Sorry!" His cousin pulled away and scratched his head, looking slightly sheepish. "So why haven't you called or anything bro? I was really getting worried when Francis said you had left for the summer."

Matthew fleetingly wondered if it was possible for real people to develop those vein things that were in all of Kiku's comics.

"I-I just didn't have time kay?" The Canadian pushed passed his cousin, the latter following after him like a puppy.

"Oh, alright then! Hey! I still haven't told you all about my summer, you wouldn't believe this moron who tried to rob-" Good old Alfred. He could always be counted on to overlook the blatantly obvious.

The entire walk to school, Matthew listened to half of what his cousin was saying, mumbling 'yeah,', 'really?' and 'oh, cool' every once in a while.

This, thankfully, stopped when they arrived at the front gates of Hetalia High.

"Oh! There's Toris! See ya Marcus!" Alfred took off at a stupidly fast speed, meeting up with a large group of people.

Matthew took a deep breath, and exhaled. There really was no point right now. He would berate Alfred later.

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><p>The rest of day was going smoothly…Until Matthew was at his locker before 1st bell.<p>

Coming down the hallway was Bella Van Der Meer, wearing a long, dark, sleek coat.

That was all too familiar to Matthew.

(Superhero/ Villain Bio: Bella Van Der Meer. Superheroin. 16 years old. Hobbies: Chocolateering and fashion. Powers: Mind Control and telekinesis. Weakness: Headaches and control over her powers. Note: She is part of the Hetalia Yaoi club, founded by Superheroes' Kiku Honda and Elizaveta Hedervary.)

From his locker, he could hear the conversation going on.

"Bella! Where did you get that coat? It looks new!" That was Elizaveta, a girl from Hungary that had super strength and wielded a frying pan.

"Well, it sorta is."

"You weren't out meeting a new boy were you, sister?" Lars, her brother, asked incredulously. Matthew noticed he had a bit of a disappointed expression. He must be protective of his siblings.

"W-well, yes and no. I got chased by some would be rapists." Bella replied sheepishly.

"WHAT!" echoed in the hall, surprising Matthew, causing him to jolt up and whack his head against the lockers shelf. Bella must not have told her family why she had come home in a cop car.

A thousand voices were all speaking at the same time, Matthew had a great urge to yell at them to shut up, as they were helping him develop a splendid headache. But that would rouse a bit of suspicion wouldn't it?

"Are you ok?"

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"Guy's I'm fine! S-someone helped me out," Matthew chanced a glance, just to see that Bella was blushing, "He was really nice too."

Maybe Matthew should get out of there. Y'know, instead of looking like an idiot.

He closed his locker slowly and walked down the hallway, away from the group, barely catching what Bella said next.

"He was really cool too."

Matthew felt his cheeks burn. Holding a hand over his face, he made his way to Advanced Mathematics. Walking just a tad faster than normal.

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><p>Dun Dun DUUN! But before you jump to conclusions, this story will take more of a comic book style to pairings..so expect multiple almost pairings...won't say if CanxBel is the pairing or not XD you can figure it out.<p> 


	5. Chapter 4 Close Calls and Complications

He he he. Enjoy!

By the way, two more possible (and more likely) pairings show up here! Please tell me if it feels rushed and please review! Still being a novice, any advice is welcome! Thank you to everyone who reviewed and faved! By the way: Lars Van Der Meer is Netherlands, his brother Noah is Luxembourg, and Carlos is Cuba. ^_^

And dont worry, you will find out who Tomas and Jean-Mark are later, the pacing fairy just likes to spread things out. (don't own anything but the plot)

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><p>Ch. 4 Close Calls and Complications.<p>

The month of September had gone by far to slowly in Matthew's humble opinion.

His courses now had a difficulty curb so steep it had an overhang, but Koaru helped him though his math homework. The brunet didn't talk much, if at all, but Matthew was getting good at guessing what he was thinking just by looking at his expression. Koaru and Matthew had begun to hang out a bit, actually. 'Hanging out' mainly consisting eating their lunches together on the roof, not saying much. But they were becoming good friends, and that was enough for the both of them.

Koaru turned out to be a nutcase at computer programming. Matthew had asked him once what he was designing, it turned out to be a spacecraft level security program. The blond still got headaches whenever he thought about all the numbers Koaru had to type.

So when October 1st rolled around, Matthew was glad that the first month of school was over.

But unfortunately, things were going to get a lot more complicated, fast.

Really, no one could have seen it coming.

It started with Koaru and Matthew making their way to the stairwell as per usual, when Matthew walked straight into Carlos Huarez' back.

(Superhero/Villain Bio: Carlos Huarez. 17 years old, power: Combustion and self ignition. Weakness: Water or ice; however he loves ice cream. Used to be a superhero, but after a fight with Alfred Jones, he switched to become a villain. Constantly confuses Matthew Williams for Alfred Jones, and beats up both.)

Matthew knew he was screwed. Carlos was really nuts about hurting Alfred. And the villain could never figure out that HE WASN'T ALFRED!

"AMERICAN BASTARD!" Carlos' fist was now careening straight for Matthew's nose.

Wham!

And made a huge dent in some poor sap's locker. Matthew had ducked at the last possible second, and was now crouching underneath Carlos' outstretched arm.

"Uh…um," All the blond could think to do was blink up at the Cuban boy.

"Pretty fast for you Jones. But can you dodge this!" Another well-aimed punch hit the locker. Matthew had stood up and turned to the side.

Koaru looked at Matthew in what resembled shock.

Matthew's brain just sort of blanked out. How the hell was he going to get out of this without a black eye or worse?

Oh, yeah. DUH!

"RUN!" Matthew shouted at Koaru, dodging another punch; this one aimed for his solar plexus, and grabbed the younger teen's wrist. Matthew lead them down the hallway, around about 3 corners and up the stairwell to the roof, running at top speed the entire way.

Only when the two had made it to the roof did Matthew let go of Koaru's wrist.

"S-sorry, it was all I could think of." Koaru was winded, leaning on his knees, gasping for breath, while Matthew was breathing evenly for the most part.

"**Pant** How- how did you-do that?"

"I-I don't know."

Koaru looked directly into his eyes, unwavering. Matthew looked away.

Koaru kept staring at Matthew, waiting for an answer, knowing that the previous one was a stall. This went on for a good 5 minutes before one of them broke the silence.

Koaru was the first to speak. "I…I don't have any powers."

Matthew turned his head around so fast he swore he had just given himself whiplash. It was Koaru's turn to look away.

"Everyone thinks I have abilities with technology, but I am simply good with computers." He took a shaky breath " "I-I've tried telling my family, but my brother's and sister's just don't understand. Or, well, they never could." The young teen was fiddling with his backpack strap, still looking away. He looked on the brink of tears.

Matthew blinked back at Koaru, the latter looking up at him, waiting for approval or disproval.

"That has to be the most I've ever heard you say in one go." Matthew wanted to face palm. Here Koaru was, scared out of his mind, and what does he do? Get verbal diarrhea.

"S-sorry, that just kinda came out. Ah…umm…Koaru…?"

Koaru appeared confused.

"Want to come over to my house after school?" Matthew finally offered.

* * *

><p>Downtown 1: 59 PM<p>

General Winter looked over the police reports. A masked vigilante had beaten some of his boys up last night. Somebody new.

General Winter prided himself on knowing every do-good hero in the city. He WAS the head of the villain department in Hetalia Academy.

This would need more investigation, and soon.

* * *

><p>5:30 Matthew's house.<p>

"You ok?" the two teenagers were in Matthew's kitchen, sitting at his table.

"Yes…" Koaru was deep in thought. The Canadian couldn't blame him. It was a lot of information to process. Matthew had done the same when he first found out. The brunet took a deep breath.

"It seems that I will be coming over to your house a lot more, my friend."

Matthew let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, and smiled. Koaru smiled, just slightly, back. The two of them laughing lightly together.

* * *

><p>Inner City 12:24<p>

The man leaned against one of the gargoyles that decorated the top of one of the dozens of skyscrapers that littered the skyline.

He could see the streets, the lights, the people, everything. The entire city was at his fingertips. But where to begin?

His communicator (really it was just a high tech phone) rang out a familiar tune.

"Hello-"

"DON'T YOU HELLO ME!" A voice screamed at him through the screen. "WHAT HAPPENED?"

"Ugh, tone it down gear head." He held the communicator far away from his ear.

"TONE IT DOWN! I'LL TOWN YOU DOW-"

"I couldn't follow her!" He interrupted, still feeling a headache.

"Rgh! You better fix this! Tomas doesn't know yet."

"Great." He held his head in his hand. When Tomas found out about it, he was going to destroy him.

"Merde, you really fucked up yeah? So how're you going to fix this?"

"I'll think of something, you have no faith in me gear head."

"With good reason. Ok, I'll try to buy you some time."

"Kay, bye gear head."

"I HAVE A NAM-"

"Yeah, yeah. Talk to you tomorrow." He hung up. Now he would have to get that coat back tonight, or he was permanent pavement paté.

The black clad man stretched, dreading what he had to do next.

**Tmp** But first he may want to deal with a threat behind him.

"Kesheshesh! So who are you little birdie?" The man turned, finding himself face to face with Gilbert Bedishmit.

(Superhero/villain Bio: Gilbert Bedishmit. 17 years old. The self proclaimed 'Most awesome being in existence ever.' Powers: Flight and bird like abilities and senses. Uses retractable talons as weapons. Weakness: High levels of serotonin. Note: the two most effective ways to administer said amounts of serotonin are by injection, possibly leading to death, or by exposing Gilbert Bedishmit to objects or people that are deemed cute. No I am not making this up. He also likes to use taller buildings as sort of 'perches')

The albino was flashing a cocky grin, obviously amused at how someone had dared to come on his territory. He was wearing a silver and red costume with a Prussian eagle on the breast. A large chick sat on top his silver hair, chirping loudly at the cloaked man. With the velvet night sky behind him, the Prussian villain gave an eery glow in the dark.

"Oh~ Love the hood, very mysterious." Gilbert flew a few feet forward, he took two steps back.

"You really should invest in a mask." The man said, because really, it was stupid not to cover up some of your face. What was stopping him going to Gilbert's house later and killing him now that he knew what he looked like?

"Maybe, but why would I deny everybody my awesome face?"

"Right." The man turned around, getting ready to leave.

The guardrail exploded right beside where his hand was resting.

"Not so fast birdie, I want to play!" Razor talons aimed for his chest, and the man barely had time to deflect it with an eskrima truncheon.

A Gut punch, a blow with the truncheon, a cut on his side from Gilbert's talons. The two attacked and parried on the rooftop, one floating a foot above the ground, the other light on his feet and moving them fast. Both of them landing hits, the cloaked man landing more than Gilbert.

Only a few minutes into fighting and the man knew he had to get out of there. Gilbert had backup and he was wasting time with this. He knew Gilbert would catch up to him if he tried to escape now…. He needed a distraction and fast.

The man took a step back to dodge a swipe, and felt his stomach drop when there was barely any ledge to keep his footing. During the entire fight he must have backed up to the edge!

"You look a bit stuck there birdie~. Gilbert leaned in close to the man's face.

'Really? This is the BEST I can think of?' He was going to regret this for the rest of his life.

"Why don't you just give up?" Screw it; it was better than getting caught by this nutso.

In the blink of an eye, the man had pulled Gilbert's face down by his shirt, crashing their lips together. The Prussian was caught off guard, doing nothing to stop nor continue with the kiss.

After a good 20 seconds of lip lock, the man jumped backwards, off the roof.

Gilbert stood there dumbfounded. Shaking his head to bring his mind back to reality, the albino realized that the other had left. Touching down to the roof, he sprinted to the edge, finding nothing over the side except for the street, the cars, and the lights below.

Gilbert licked his lips, the little birdie was good at kissing. He would have to find him and play again one day.

Twenty blocks away, on the edge of Downtown.

"Ugh! I seriously hope I NEVER have to do that again." Wiping his mouth furiously with the back of his hand, the man tried to will away the taste of beer and sausage out of his mouth. His face wasn't red because of the kiss, no! He was just winded! That's all!

Anyway, back to business. He knew Bella's house was close by, but she lived with her two brothers. If he broke in and he was caught…. Well in a simple matter of words he would be fucked.

In the shadows, the man crouched beneath one of the windows. Listening for any signs of movement.

"Good," he whispered to himself when nothing was heard. Inch by inch, he slowly opened the window. Moving like liquid, he entered the dark room. He must have gone into their living room. There was a flat screen on the wall, and a pipe was on the coffee table. The room had two leather chesterfields and a couch. It was a chic an posh room, that smelt faintly of weed.

Whatever, this wasn't the time to be contemplating someone's drug usage. He was inside the house, now all he had to do is find her room. Opening the door ever so slightly, he looked around if anyone was in the hall. Oh dear lord he felt like a creeper.

Hold it! THERE! His jacket was over one of the dining room chairs!

The cloaked man dashed over to the mahogany dining set, glad to have found the cause of his grief. Also relieved that his mentor wouldn't have to kill him just yet.

Sighing with relief, he pulled the coat halfway on, right before…

"WHO'S THERE?" Bella's brother, Lars shouted from down the hall.

(Superhero/villain Bio: Lars Van Der Meer. 18 years old. Powers: Mind and space manipulation. Weakness: Using his powers takes energy, also, the more people or things that Lars Van Der Meer manipulates, the weaker his hold is. Note: having a strong will and education on what your reality is will raise your chances of regaining your mind and your reality plain will return to normal)

"Crap." Ok, so he wouldn't die by his mentor's hand, he would die by a manipulators'. He needed to get out of there NOW or he was royally screwed up the tailpipe.

"YOU! Who the hell are y- **MMF!**"

When Lars had entered the dining room, the man was turning towards the same doorway, arms still halfway in and out of the coat. Lars himself had tripped over a corner of the Parisian rug that covered the floor.

Both had tripped towards each other, meeting at the lips. Opened mouthed and gaping, neither knew what to do.

Lars simply stared into the darkened hood, watching as a scarlet blush made its way from barely visible cheekbones down an open hood to his collarbone.

"Eep!" The man let out a barely audible squeak, backing up slightly, still barely centimeters away from the taller man.

The hooded man pushed passed Lars, and ran out the front door.

The ashen blond teen turned in the direction that the other had gone. He brought his fingers along his bottom lip.

Rain and…maple syrup?

* * *

><p>Suburban area 1:00 Am<p>

The man pulled out his communicator, and pressed a button on the side. Immediately his friend's face appeared on the touch screen.

"Tabarnak! What is it now- …Why are you red?"

"I got the coat back, so Tomas doesn't have to kill me."

"Ok, now why are you the colour of a cherry? And your lips are…OH!"

"Bye Jean." He rubbed the bridge of his nose. He could feel his face flaming now.

"Oho! And I thought you were too straight edge for anything like that." The hooded man didn't need to open his eyes; he could HEAR the smirk in his voice.

"Goodbye Jean!" The man's voice rang out sternly.

"D'accord, d'accord. Tomas wont hear about any of this oui? Have a good sleep my friend." The communicator's screen went black, flashing a sign in the bottom right corner.

The man rubbed his mouth with the back of his hands again. His entire face and most of his neck and ears were still hot and probably a nice crimson now.

Twice in one night, and those were his first kisses too! God only knows how this would affect him later.

But right now, his mind was focused on getting his ass into bed. Thank God it was a weekend.

* * *

><p>Ku fu fu fu... drama begins now!<p>

Ok for Gilberts weakness, im going off of what i learned in a class about drug use. I was told that serotonin is one of the chemicals the brain releases when you feel joy or (it was an example) you see something you love or you think is cute. If this is wrong (and I think it may be) please tell me! I would like this to be as accurate as possible. And Lars? Well considering he is thought of as a drug user, manipulating the world around him? I just thought he could make the entire reality like you were tripping balls. Or something.

Thanks for reading and please review!


	6. Chapter 5 Playing Anti Hero

Ok! Massive plot point AWAYY! My da will have drawings of all of the characters as hero's/villains soon enough, i just have a commission or two to finish first XD (yes this chapter is short but the next will be massive, and what happens here make up for lack of wording)

Hope you enjoy, and a massive thanks to *insert deep breath* Mapleleaf250, hans-the-hero, AlphaSigma. Massive thanks to Deikuru and anyone i missed because im lazy. Please review! (considering i have 'novice' tattooed on my forehead) all constructive criticism is welcome~!

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><p>Ch. 5 Playing anti hero<p>

Two weeks after Koaru had first told Matthew about his secret, the entire school was in the auditorium for a mandatory assembly. The teachers were sitting on the stage, most of them looking wary at the topic of the assembly.

"Goo~d morning everybody!" The dean was up at the podium on stage, looking as cheerful as ever. "As we all know, Halloween is coming up soon," The entire room exploded with cheers.

Koaru turned to Matthew.

"It's the biggest holiday of the year for most of these guys." Matthew explained.

"Yes, yes, I know" The dean continued. "But just like last year, we have some rules for you all to follow." A loud groan followed. "Number one, whatever you have planed, no civilians can get involved. Two, no deaths! Maiming, unconsciousness and hospitalizations are fine. Number three, no alternate dimensions!"

"Things get a bit weird around this time of year," Matthew whispered. "All the villains try to 'destroy' the hero's, and the hero's try to stop the villains 'once and for all'. The entire night turns into one big scare fest and brawl."

"Please follow these rules, or there will be consequences. Have a lovely day~." With that the dean hummed his way off stage. You could see Mr. Bedishmit face palm at the dean's actions.

The entire school began to get up and leave, all of them chatting about their plans for Halloween.

Matthew stayed back, waiting for the crowds to clear. He leaned back in the chair, and looked around the auditorium, locking eyes with the head of the villain department Mr. Winter, also known as General Winter.

General Winter always gave Matthew a weird vibe. The General had white hair and an ice blue eye, his right eye covered by a black eye patch. He had sharp features, and looked like the kind of man you pissed off when you had a death wish.

The General turned away when one of the teachers began to talk to him.

He really gave Matthew the creeps.

* * *

><p>Halloween came around way too fast. All of Hetalia Academy was buzzing. You had to watch behind you to make sure you weren't hit by something flying somewhere or someone pulling something out of their locker.<p>

Everyone had a costume, and was trying to scare the shit out of anyone who was around. There was fake blood dripping from the walls like rain, and all sorts of disgusting and terrifying props around every corner. Some kids had fainted from the stupid stunts some villains pulled.

Matthew just wanted tonight to be over with.

Around 4:30, Alfred had shown up at Matthews house begging him to dress up for Arthur's Halloween party.

"C'mon Mattie! I know you don't have anything on tonight! And I promise you wont get involved with the fights with the villains!" Alfred was dragging Matthew upstairs.

"D'accord! Ok! If it means this much to you I'll go!" The two blonds had stopped right outside Matthew's bedroom door. Matthew pulled his arm out of Alfred's grasp.

"GREAT! Thanks so much Mattie!" Alfred hugged his cousin with a bone-crushing grip

Matthew sighed. "Why are you even going to a party Alfred? Aren't you going to go fight with the rest of the heroes?"

"I am! But I want to have some fun too! And besides, I can catch some of those jerks off guard!"

"Yeah, ok." Matthew knew that the real reason was because Alfred hated scary things. He needed to be with other people to face his fears. "Fine, I'll find a costume I guess."

Matthew came out his bedroom wearing a team Canada jersey (#87) and holding a hockey stick.

"So, who are you supposed to be?" Alfred asked.

"I'm Sidney Crosby." Alfred gave a deadpanned stare. "It was the only thing I could think up on short notice." Matthew mumbled.

"Fine, it will have to do. Now C'mon! The party is gonna start soon!"

Six blocks away, at Arthur's house, the entire street was filled with music and Meta-humans wearing costumes. Matthew didn't know why he agreed to this. He felt massively out of place, he doubted Koaru would be here either.

When the two arrived at Arthur's house, most of the open space was taken. Alfred spotted a few friends of his, and waved them over.

"Al, I think I'll go and get something to eat. Alright?' Matthew really didn't want to hang out with any of his cousin's friends.

"You want to eat Iggy's food? Are you sick or something Mattie?" Alfred held a hand against Matthew's forehead.

"N-No, I just want to get something to eat."

Matthew turned and made his way towards Arthur's fire damaged kitchen. He saw a batch of Arthur's scones sitting on the living room table, looking just a bit like a pile of coals.

"Opps! S-sorry." The blond mumbled to the back he had just bumped into.

"Hey! Watch where you're going! You hit the awesome me!" Gilbert Bedishimit turned around.

"S-sorry" Matthew repeated, feeling his face heat up. He pushed passed the albino (who was dressed as a vampire for some odd reason) and maneuvered around the rest of the partygoers.

Not feeling the pair of ruby eyes on his back

Inside the kitchen was empty, with good reason. No one went into Arthur's kitchen unless they wanted to get sick. The entire place was covered with fire marks, and there was a foul smell in the air. The Canadian felt his phone vibrate.

...

When Arthur came into the kitchen to get more party snacks, he found a white jersey lying on his kitchen counter.

* * *

><p>Downtown the fights had already started. There had to be at least 30 one on one fights, but there was a massive mortal combat taking place in the middle of the street.<p>

In one of the dozens of shadowed alleyways, the hooded man ran into the heart of the battle.

The masked man griped his staff tighter. A hero was outnumbered by at least 12 villains. Most of the villains larger than either of them. But he had faced worse than this, and he was going to leave a mission unfinished over his cold, drug-bloated corpse.

A frontal assault would be suicidal, however, picking one off at a time would be much easier.

Like lightning, he hit each villain's pressure points, needing to dodge the occasional stray blow and watch out for their abilities.

But these guys…lets just say they weren't the intellectual type. Only after eight of them had been knocked down did the rest turn to him and attack.

Really it was pathetic, each one went down with a single hit. They could barely retaliate, and none had gotten past nicking his staff.

One more whack to a substance mimicker's concrete jaw and the villains were down for the count. No, seriously, he was made of concrete.

He loosened his hold on his staff and helped the hero up. The hero, he looked like a sound manipulator, shook himself off and extended a hand out.

"Hey! Thanks man, I owe you. **Gak**!" A hit to his jugular and the hero was down.

"Ugh, finally you shut up." The man sighed. None of the unconscious villains or the hero had critical injures, no need for him to stay, or for them to remain awake. He turned and bounded up the alley wall, jumping from one side to the other. With a blink of an eye he was atop of one of the buildings. His vision swept across the city streets, looking for another idiotic fight.

With everything somewhat quiet, he was on his way to the next area of town. The teachers from Hetalia could deal with the rest here.

* * *

><p>Suburbs 3:47 AM.<p>

"Nicely done, you did a good job tonight me boy." An older redheaded man was talking to the man from his communicator.

"Thanks Tomas."

The man rubbed his eyes, willing the sleep away.

"You have a good sleep aye? Eat somethin' when ye get up, and make sure to call me back tomorra'."

"Right, bye Tomas." The man clicked off his communicator, took off his dark glasses and pulled off his hood.

A mop of curly blond hair fell around his face, framing beautiful violet blue eyes.

Matthew Williams took a deep breath; wincing as he felt a bruise on his back bloom. Kumajiro nuzzled into his side, before the Canadian flopped on the bed, barely remembering to strip down and take off his combat boots.

He was never going to get 9 hours solid sleep ever again.

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><p>Hehehe, im evil XD<p> 


	7. Chapter 6 Birth of a Reaper

Aha, Hi. Late yeah, but i hit a bit of a snag, (exams suck and art block coincides w/ stress so yeah, it may be until monday before i update again. Thank you SO much everyone who reviewed. please keep doing so! I really appreciate it!

Oh and by the way, Tomas = Scotland, Finnigan = Ireland, Jean-Mark= Quebec, and Nickolas = Newfoundland

* * *

><p>Ch. 6 Birth of a Reaper.<p>

That stupid buzzing sound was there again. Where the hell was it coming from? Matthew pawed around, slamming the 'off' button on his alarm, and snuggled back into his covers.

Wait, why was his alarm on? Today was Saturday, and he was damned if he was going to get up early on Saturday. Creaking open one sleep wary eye, the blond noticed that it was indeed well past noon.

'Another few hours' Matthew thought fleetingly, until something made him open his eyes again.

"SHIT!"

Matthew fell out of bed; he was supposed to meet up with Koaru an hour ago! Augh! It hurt to move! The Canadian scrambled around to find a pair of jeans and some sort of shirt, stopping when he heard the doorbell ring.

"Coming!" Matthew called downstairs, tripping over his half pulled up pants. He didn't even grab his glasses. Kuma followed his master with mild interest.

The doorbell rang again, whoever was on the other side really wanted Matthew to answer. Matthew slid into his front room, slipping past the door, and swiftly backtracking to the door handle.

Turning the silver knob, he opened the door, too revved up to realize his dark wash jeans were ridding down his thighs.

"Koaru! Man I am so sorry! I slept in way too late…. You Ok?" He opened the door wider to let the shorter boy in.

The brunet didn't say anything; he just walked into Matthew's kitchen.

"K-Koaru?" Matthew was getting worried. Koaru never acted like this. It got even weirder as the brunet began to pull foodstuffs out of his cupboards and began to make a massive looking lunch. Not knowing exactly what to do, Matthew sat down at his table.

Koaru didn't say a word until he had placed a large mound of food in front of Matthew.

"Eat, then I will explain." Koaru held up a mug of green tea. The Canadian blushed when he heard his stomach growl at the prospect of food.

After a filling lunch, Koaru pulled out a newspaper. A blurry black and white photo dominated the entire front page.

"'**Grim Reaper Appears On Halloween Night.'… **Whats this?" Matthew looked up at Koaru. The brunet simple nodded for him to look at the photo.

"Oh no." Matthew mumbled. There, on the paper was a photo of Matthew, in his mission clothes. A dark hood covering the top half of his face, the bottom of his nose and his mouth set in a frown, barely visible. He looked sinister with a full moon behind him. The photo was an up shot, making Matthew look intimidating and just a bit unearthly. Actually, the sweet, kind, martyr of a Canadian, looked exactly like the angel of death himself. Helped by the fact that he was holding a scythe.

It had to have been taken sometime last night. Matthew couldn't recall when a photographic reporter was nearby.

Koaru spoke up, "I do believe they misinterpreted your weapon."

"How? It's a hockey stick! How the hell did they confuse it with a weapon of mass destruction?"

Koaru just stared at him.

"Ok, a weapon of MORE mass destruction." In the newspapers defense at the angle Matthew was holding the stick, it did look like the grim reapers weapon.

"Will your mentor punish you for this?" Koaru looked wary.

"Tomas? I really hope not. Nick had the same problem before, so I think as long as my face wasn't seen I'm good." He groaned. "I can't do much about this now, though. So the best thing is to go along as if it never happened and try not to give away anything."

Koaru nodded, then looked at Matthew.

"I'm still half out of my pants aren't I?" Matthew guessed. Koaru nodded again. The blond stood up and fastened his pants this time.

Kuma was at his pants leg, "Food," The bear stared up at Matthew. "Food, bruise, food."

"Bruise? Wha?... How'd I get that?" There was a nice, black and blue bruise on his shoulder, trailing down his back in the shape of an eggplant.

"High pain tolerance." Koaru noted. "More than likely it was a hit from a matter controller, judging by the shape and severity of the wound." he typed this all into a miniature, holographic computer. The size of deck of cards, it projected over 5 screens; all of them touch sensetive, was capable of internet access, and could hold up to 160 gigabits at a time. The actual body of the device served as the keyboard.

"Eff. I'm gonna have to wear hoodies for a week! Ah!" Matthew tried to sit down, hitting the wounded part of his back on the chair.

"Slow down." Koaru waited till his friend had gotten reasonably comfy. "Report?"

Matthew took a deep breath. "Started in Downtown quarter 1…-"

* * *

><p>It was after 8 pm when Matthew's communicator went off. A little crest flashing in the corner of his touch screen told him who was calling. Koaru had gone home hours ago, and Kuma was snoozing on the couch in the den, reruns of M*a*s*h playing.<p>

Pushing a button on the side, a man's face, probably in his early 30's, came up. Red hair and a slight beard, he looked just a bit scruffy, but still held a dignified grace about him.

"Hello?" Matthew held the phone like a grenade about to go off.

"Well hello there Mr. Grim Reaper! Look's like your making headlines!" He said in a cheery demeanor.

**Thump** Head? Meet Desk. You two will be seeing more of each other in the future.

"First off, I did NOT see that reporter, second-"

"It's alright laddie. As long as yer face wasn't seen, you're fine. This is a really good photo, I wonder who took it?" Great, he was getting off topic. His cousin Tomas was way to happy about this new development.

"Did Jean-Mark and Nickolas see?" Please no, please no! He could deal with their normal teasing, but this would be ridiculous. (Although it may be karmatic balance considering all the names he calls them.)

"Yep, and it's stuck, Mr. Reaper."

"Oh CRAP." Tomas jumped at his normally quiet cousin's out burst.

A loud groan came from the blond. "But that aside, yer' doin' alright laddie?"

Matthew sighed. "Besides badly needing a publicist I'm fine."

"Aha, alright I know yer' not happy, but this is exactly how Nick got his name, if it makes ye feel better. And besides, it gives me n' Finn an idea of what to get ye for Christmas this year. I got to go Mata, have a good Sunday!"

"Tom, you aren't serious are you? Tom? TOM!" Too late, the screen went dark.

How the hell had he gotten into this mess? One minute he was too shy to say excuse me, the next he's running around the city like a freaking living shadow.

Oh yeah, last March. He almost got dusted, until Tomas saved his ass. After that, he was on a two and a half month long training run, and making some cash as a soldier for hire.

Why had his eldest cousins have to be anti heros?

"Ah! My friggen back!"

* * *

><p>Twenty blocks west, In Francis' basement.<p>

Francis sat in his basement with Antonio and Gilbert, talking about last night's events.

"Mn, I don't know what to do, my dear Lovi won't tell me he loves me back." Antonio was sobbing into his stuffed tomato plush.

"Oh, don't fret Mon ami! Perhaps he just doesn't feel he can trust you? Him being a hero and all."

"Bu-But I told him my super villain name! And my powers! I'm not sure how much more open I can be! **Sob**"

"He will come around eventually. Right Gilbert...Gilbert?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Totally." The albino was on the floor, a Daily Compass spread out in front of him.

"Gilbert you haven't listened to a word I have said! Even last night your mind was somewhere else! What has got your head in the clouds?"

He pointed the photo. "This guy! He completely dominated today's news! He is so unawesomely taking our street cred!"

Francis peered over his shoulder. "Hmn? Is that not the same man who eluded you not a month ago? You called him 'Birdie", non?"

"NO!" He wasn't red, but you could see a pale tint of pink on Gilbert's cheekbones.

Antonio stopped crying to tease his best friend. "Birdie. Isn't that the same name you called out a few nights ago when I went to go get a midnight snack?"

"WHAT?" Gilbert yelled. Now he was a nice red.

"I'm joking amigo. I'm joking." Antonio patted his friends back, obviously over his latest existential crisis.

"Well this is odd." Francis mumbled. "According to the reporter, this 'Grim Reaper' not only defeated villains last night, but…hero's as well." He said, reading ahead a few paragraphs.

"What? Where does it say that?" It was true! About 2 paragraphs in, it had a detailed account of how he took down both sides. But, how could someone like that be against both factions of the school? It just didn't work! The three shared an apprehensive look.

Gilbert set his jaw. "Reaper..." He stared into the pixilated black hood "What's your game?"

* * *

><p>Uh so yeah, more detail on what his eldest cousins do and how they're helping 5 (soon to be 7) young non meta's grow up a bit! Can you guess who's not a meta? PLACE YOUR BETS!<p> 


	8. Chapter 7 Berserker? Sorry, No

Thank you so much for everyone who reviewed, faved or watched me or the story!

Holy cow, exams are the devil. Anyway, yeah so my da will have character sketches of the countries as super hero's 'n alike, ask me and ill tell you where to go. But yeah, hope the scene with Lovino dosen't seem rushed (i just need to introduce the bit players soon and get to the climax in less than 28 chapters)

Note! I say football as in soccer and American football as american football. Also Tobias Jorgensen=Norway.

One last note: I have a reference if you want to hear what Matthew's voice is like when he goes out as Reaper (because, really with a hood and a mask, who wouldn't feel more bad-ass? Oh god, sorry i've been rhyming all day, my mind will just not sit at bay. GAH!) Anyway, look up Spider Man Noir or Ultimate in 'Shattered Dimensions' on you tube. either of those are the voice i envision. pick whichever one suites you (or find your own voice for him.)

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><p>Ch. 7. Berserker? Sorry, no.<p>

School was back to it's usual monotony, Matthew was still in the top 30, mark wise. Mostly thanks to Koaru. God only knows what his test scores would be like if he didn't have that raven haired boy to help with Quadratics. Needless to say, the Reaper myth had evolved to much more than Matthew had ever thought it could. Any time in the day, you would hear people swapping stories about how the Grim Reaper tried to steal this guy's soul, or how he dragged this one guy to the underworld. All of the teenagers who had come in contact with him on Halloween night were spreading things around like how his scythe was dripping blood, and he flew with two black wings. Matthew thought it was getting stupid. Like he could command an army of hell's demons.

All things considered, it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. No one, not even the mind readers had called him out on being Grim Reaper.

The only thing that was freaking Matthew out, was the constant feeing that General Winter was watching him.

Every time Matthew turned around, Matthew swore he saw the General nearby. It was freaking him out. And if it wasn't the General, it was Ivan. Ivan Braginski. The scariest villain to be in the entire academy.

(Superhero/villain Bio: Ivan Braginski. 17 years old. Power: Shadow Manipulation. Weakness: The more he uses his powers non-stop; the more his sanity is decayed. Note He has split personalities due to his powers, one is friendly and likes to help people, the other wants to split your top half from your bottom. It is quite easy to tell when Ivan is one or the other, due to a 'Kol'ing sound he emits when he switches personalities.)

He didn't scare Matthew, per say. He just… made him uncomfortable.

So each time Matthew turned around and saw a glimpse of Ivan's scarf from around a corner, he would tense up more and more. It was getting stupid. Really stupid.

He was so caught up in trying to see if Ivan was nearby, he didn't see Lars Van Der Meer step in front of him.

"Oh! I-I'm so sorry!" Both of their books were on the hallway floor in a heap. Matthew bent down to help gather the other's books.

"It's ok." The older teen mumbled, bending down to help.

"S-sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going, and-."

"It's fine." Lars interrupted. The two blond's looked up at each other simultaniously, Matthew stopped picking up a language vocabulary test immediately. "Do I know you?" Lars squinted at the shorter.

"N-nope, I-I don't think so." Matthew felt his face burn up, remembering the night he had to steal back his coat, remembering the faint taste of gingersnaps and pot on his lips, remembering the fact that Lars took his first opened mouth kiss.

"...Oh." The ashen blond kept gazing at Matthew. Hadn't he met him before? Maybe at a football game?

"H-here you go!" Matthew shoved a pile of papers into Lars' hands. "I-I need to get going, I h-have a test in two minutes." The strawberry blond ran off, leaving behind a dazed Dutchmen.

No matter what the younger had said, Lars STILL felt that he knew that boy from somewhere.

* * *

><p>It was around 4:23 when Matthew was able to get out of Hetalia. The constant almost run ins with Ivan were really making him paranoid. Just to be safe, he'd take the roundabout way, past the bleachers by the football fields and go behind the far wings to walk home.<p>

'Stupid temperate climate,' Matthew thought glumly. 'We probably won't even have a white Christmas' He kicked a dead leaf out of his path, loving the crunch sound they made under his feet.

**Sob.** Matthew turned, the sound was heat breaking. Under one of the bleachers, knees pressed up against his chest, was a teenage boy, crying his eyes out.

Matthew stopped, looked around, and sat beside the boy.

He kept crying, wiping tears away, trying to hold them back.

"So…" Matthew glanced at the brunet. "Want to talk about it?"

He just kept crying. Finally calmed down enough to talk after a good 5 minutes.

" **Sniff** No, why the fuck would I trust you?" the boy turned to size up Matthew. "I don't even know you."

"True," Matthew needed to say this with tact, "but talking to a stranger, I won't pass judgment based on past experiences with you." Matthew leaned back, resting on his palms. "Well? Want to talk about why you're crying your eyes out?"

"Ngh! It's just; nothing goes right for me, ever! My brother can do anything, and I fail at everything. He passes his classes without thinking twice, I barely scrape by, he can control his powers, I can't even harness them. He can tell the one he likes that he has feelings for them, while I …" He broke down crying again. The boy gushed it all out in one breath, obviously distressed and glad to get it off his chest. Even to a complete stranger.

"Life's just not fair, why can't I get a break?" the boy hiccupped, hugging his knees closer to his chest.

"No, it's not…" Matthew agreed.

The boy kept sniffing for a few minutes then looked up and gave a choked laugh. "I must be pathetic," he managed out, rubbing his eyes. "Here I am, bawling my eyes out, acting like an idiot, and talking to some bastard about my communication problems."

"You need to let yourself be vulnerable sometimes, it's what makes us human." Matthew paused. "No one can be super all the time."

The boy stopped crying. His eyes were puffy and red, and his shirtsleeves were wet from tears.

"Heh, you sound like a cliché. What would you know anyway?"

"Besides having a relative who steals the spotlight always? Just the fact that I can't talk to people, have trouble raising my voice, and I fail at extra courses."

"Oh? Well at least you don't open your mouth to say something sweet to the guy you like, than say something completely stupid like 'I hate you'. When you mean the opposite."

"Is that why you were…?" Matthew gestured with his hands. The boy nodded. "That sucks."

"Mnhmn." He agreed. "I-I'm Romano Vargas by the way."

"Matthew Williams."

"Who?" Matthew cringed.

"Yep." He sighed to himself.

"Oh, wait. That burger bastard's cousin? That's you?"

"Who were you expecting? Harry Trumen?" Opps, a bit too sarcastic there.

Romano smiled, wiping his nose and eyes with his sweater sleeve "You're alright. I thought you were some wimp who couldn't grow some balls or a backbone."

"Gee, thanks." The two of them sat in comfortable silence for a while.

"Oh shit." Matthew mumbled calmly. "I was supposed to be home an hour ago."

"Nice job." Romano replied.

"Shut up." Matthew pushed his side playfully. The two had known each other for what? Less than half an hour, and they were already acting like besties.

"Make me!" Romano stuck out his tongue.

"You wish." The blond stood up. "Here," he handed Romano a slip of paper. "If you wanna hang out or talk, call me."

"Right, see ya 'Who'" Romano smirked.

"Go screw yourself!" Matthew called back, running across the street.

* * *

><p>Alfred sat in his room with his alien friend Tony, stuffing his face with hamburgers. Hey, it took a lot of energy to power his daily routine! Tony was playing video games, as usual, and Alfred was waiting for Iggy to show up so the two could talk about schoolwork. Everything was normal.<p>

But recently, things have been getting weirder and weirder. Mainly involving Mattie. His cute little brother was acting strange. (Ever since Mattie and him were 3, the two had been inseparable. So in Alfred's mind, they weren't cousins, they were brothers!) Mattie had been falling asleep in class, eating a LOT more than usual, and just plain acting strange. He never came over to watch scary movies or play video games with him anymore! And Kiku was getting annoyed with Alfred constantly screaming.

It was like Matthew had a double life!

"Nah," Alfred said out loud, "Mattie wouldn't keep things from me!" His doubts put to rest, the Superman-to-be resumed inhaling his mountain of fully loaded cheeseburgers.

* * *

><p>Arthur flipped through his spell book, trying to find an incantation to finally turn that stupid French frog into an actual frog. Once again not coming up with anything, Arthur threw the book behind his back, fed up with dead ends.<p>

The book hit the back of the room with a satisfying whack. Of course it hit two of his picture frames, causing them to fall to the floor.

"Bugger!" Arthur scrambled to find the two picture frames' glass had cracked. The first one was a family portrait of him, his two older brothers and his mom and dad. It was taken only a year before his parents had died.

It seemed that there was a curse on the entire family. Each one of their parents had met a grim demise.

The second was a newer photo of Alfred, Francis, himself, and…a second Alfred?

No, wait, that was his other cousin. Oh what was his name? Arthur wracked his brain. "Marcus? No. Mike? No, no that's not right. Ma… Matthew!"

Matthew, that's right. It had been forever since he had checked up on the lad. Perhaps he should go over with a batch of scones later.

Truth be told, he felt a bit guilty for constantly forgetting about his cousin. Arthur had after all helped raise him after his parents had died. Hell he had moved in with the younger boy after both their parents had died. Arthur's older brother's living with them of course.

So why was he so hard to remember? Sure his ability made it harder for him to be seen and sensed, but that's no reason for his entire existence to escape Arthur's memory.

He sighed and sat down at his desk. A copy of last week's newspaper spread out, the 'Grim Reaper' edition, was off to the far side of his desk.

An angel of death had come to their city. It sat uneasily with Arthur. To him and other members of the Mythic society in the school, it was an omen.

(Koaru's Fact Fun: Mythic Society. A group in Hetalia Academy consisting of all the students who use magical objects, cast spells, or have mythical beasts to help them. Arthur Kirkland and Tobias Jorgensen are the club's leaders.)

The Grim Reaper was always bad news. He brought death, the powers of the underworld, and commanded armies of monsters. This was a bad omen if there ever was one.

The Englishman had a feeling it would be getting worse before it got better. Just the sight of that photo made his insides churn.

His cell phone rang, playing 'Anarchy in the UK'.

"Hello Tomas."

"Artie! How's me baby brother?"

"I am doing fine, thank you." His worthless older brother was on the other line. What on earth could be so important?

"Just called t' let ye know, me an Finn will be visiting for Christmas this year!"

"…What?"

* * *

><p>Industrial District. 10:56 PM.<p>

Grim Reaper loved nights like this. Quiet, no thugs making trouble, and no mob bosses making deals. The only thing that would make life complete, was if he didn't have school tomorrow, and he could GET RID OF THIS STUPID NAME!

Seriously, the teasing from Gearhead and Bioshock was getting stupid.

Overhead, some Meta humans played tag in the sky. Not noticing a shadow make its way across the rooftops.

This part of town was 'owned' by the hero's of Hetalia Academy. So, naturally, the villains would come here to stir up trouble.

Reaper stopped at one of the higher buildings, taking in the lights below. The air was cool, crisp and clean. It moved around him and almost blew his hood back. He grasped it before the fabric could pass his cheekbones. The stars were more vibrant tonight, and the crescent moon glowed golden. It was definitely nights like this that made him loved this job.

His peaceful moment was shattered completely when an elephant hit him in the side, causing him to slam into the ground.

"Good one B.L" Gilbert said to his friend Antonio. So it wasn't an elephant that sideswiped him, it was Antonio F. Carriedo's massive axe. Thank god he didn't strike with the actual edge, or else Reaper would be a few limbs short of a human.

(Superhero/Villain Bio: Antonio Fernandez Carriedo. Age: 17. Supervillain name: Blood Lust. Power: Animal mimicry. Note, Often confused with animal morphing, Animal mimicry allows the user to increase speed, reflexes etc. for a short amount of time. Weakness: Depending on what animal the host copies, their personality may change. Also, if the host uses one animal for extended periods of time, they will begin to display physical qualities as well as mental. This can be used to your advantage. Aditional, he is one of the only students in Hetalia Academy that has his/her future alias name picked out.)

"Gh! Cheap shot!" Reaper grasped his side. Man did that hurt!

"Ohoho, looks like the poor boy is hurt! You didn't hit him too hard I hope." Goddamn it, the entire Bad Touch Trio was here!

Normally, Reaper could take these clowns down in under a minute, but the biggest roadblock would be not hurting them. Because honestly, he still felt squeamish about 'k.o'ing the guy who helped raise him and his friends. There was a big difference between beating a masked villain to a pulp, vs. beating your cousin up.

"Don't worry, Birdie. We're not gonna kill you, we just want some answers." Gilbert stepped on Reaper's hand, effectively stopping any chance for him to stand up.

"You still going on with that 'Birdie' name? There has to be better ones to use for me. Maybe the 'Dark Knight'. That has a nice ring to it actually." he gave the albino a shit-eating grin from under his hood.

"Very funny. Non, what we want to know, is why you're trying to muscle your way into our territory.

There was no way he could escape from Gilbert like last time, and he was polar bear meat if he tried to fight head on.

"What's wrong with a little friendly competition?" Reaper turned to look at Francis.

"We've got that Braginski bastard, he's enough competition." The albino spat out the name, each word dripping with enough venom, Reaper could almost see it.

"You see, Grim Reaper, the three of us have been working this side of town for a good three years now, and we don't want other villains taking after your example. Si?" Antonio loosely held his weapon, moving it around as if it was another limb.

"However, we are very much open to you joining our ranks, seeing as you're more than qualified." Gilbert smirked down into his hood.

"Hmn, you make a convincing argument. Now here's my rebuttal. **Hup**!" Reaper kicked off the ground, and head butted Gilbert square in the chest, causing him to step off his hand.

"Shit!" Gilbert choked out.

Reaper dropped a smoke pellet and pulled out a bow staff, glad to see that none of the trio were expecting the sudden turn of events.

Faster than any of the trio could see, Reaper had appeared in front of Antonio, uh, _repaying _the mimicker for his earlier blow. With a bit of change left over to give him a nice, big, black eye.

"Mon Ami! " And now Francis. Twisting his feet, he stabbed his bow staff into the Frenchmen's 'Vital Regions', effectively making him drop like a rock.

"Sorry to talk and run guys but I have another debate to attend! Try again tomorrow!" Reaper shot off a grappling hook and ran off to the other side of the industrial sector, leaving the defeated boys to lick their wounds.

From General's office downtown, he watched the entire fight play out. His company had set up cameras all over the city for such occasions. His company did after all fund most of Hetalia and it's security force, it was in his own right to use this to his advantage.

Of course he would assign the Trio extra homework for being beaten so easily, however that was not the reason he was watching video feeds at 11 at night.

The General turned and stood out of his chair to look out his massive office window. Was that fool Shadow Stroke behind this? Grim Reaper did seem to follow many of his mannerisms. No matter, whether he was or not, this new body in the city was more than trained. He grinned, placing his arms behind his back.

There was no doubt in his mind, this new anti-hero, was human. And that was all the information he needed.

* * *

><p>I just realized i have been spelling Kaoru's name wrong. Well, I'm not changing it in the middle of the story, and I'm not going back and re submitting all 7 chapters.<p>

Hope you can guess who Matthew needs to face at the end XD anyway, please review/comment. Any helpful criticism is nice! And Matthew's getting beat up pretty bad next chapter, like tooth on the road bad.


	9. Chapter 8 Freer Than You Think

Academic Anemia! the biggest sickness in high schoolers. aha, here it is! chapter 8, only 2, maybe 3 chapters away from intermission. Massive thanks to everyone who reviewed! You are much loved and appreciated for it! That being said, any helpful hints and criticisms are nice. Sorry, but no i haven't posted the character sketches yet, exams are hell.

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><p>Ch. 8 Freer Than You Think.<p>

Matthew rolled over, wincing as pain shot up his sides. Thank god he had called in sick today. Walking around with a limp and a massive bandage would not be the best way to stay incognito. Antonio had done some major damage to his side last night. When Matthew got home, he was literally bleeding through his shirt.

Kuma, ever loyal, stood up and made himself comfortable on Matthew's face.

"Thanks Kumajuro." Matthew mumbled into white fur. Kuma's fur was always so comforting, always so soft. Just not when it was stopping his ability to breath. He placed Kuma off to the side of his head and stretched. Only wincing slightly from his injury.

Ah, a day off! Oh dear lord Matthew needed this. Ever since he had taken to patrolling the streets of the city, he had barely gotten enough sleep each night. God only knows why the teachers didn't wake him up in the middle of class.

Maybe he should get some physiotherapy, and he really should take a bath with Epsom salts tonight.

Ever since the Reaper incident, Matthew felt like both parts of his life were melting together. It wasn't until he skidded into his kitchen that he noticed that his glasses were still in 'Mission Mode'. Completely black lenses on the outside, clear on the inside. The frames were molded diamond hard plastic, and fitted perfectly to his face.

They were the perfect stealth glasses, but they were also the most suspicious looking thing since black trench coats. With a push of a button on one of the arms, his glasses turned back into a pair of wire frames.

"There." Thank god for his connections with Alex Corp.

He needed to be more careful about that. Alfred may be as dense as rocks, but Arthur and Francis would notice something.

Today called for something special. A massive, pastry and meat filled breakfast. Hey, 5 month, 12 day anniversary since he first started this gig. Plugging in his Mp3 player to a stereo, he blasted a playlist filled with old 80's music and remakes from unknown bands, of new rock bands and classic pop, of rebellion and staying out all night. Singing along with every note, singing with the music as much as his bashed up side would allow.

Matthew was in the middle of making a batch of his super amazing, to die for pancakes, (with meringue in them!) when he tensed up. Something was off.

He dashed to his main floor bathroom, pulled on a bath robe and put on his best sick face.

Matthew counted down in his head. 3…2…1… The doorbell rang right on time.

Behind the mahogany door stood an awkward looking albino.

"Hey! Is this," Gilbert read a slip of paper that Matthew instantly recognized had Francis' writing on it. "Matthew's house?"

"Y-yeah? Uh, can I ask why?" Matthew wormed his lip between his teeth.

"My awesome self has been asked to bring you a book from your cousin Francis. He said you needed it for a class?" He held out a copy of Erich Remarque's, 'Im Westen nichts Neues'. "My old man had it so I told Francis I'd let you borrow it."

"Th-thank you!"

"No problem. How unawesome would I be if I didn't help my best friend's hypothetical son?"

Matthew gave him a deadpanned stare, "He hasn't been telling you stories from when we were like 6 has he?"

Gilbert simply smirked at him. The albino sniffed, "Do I smell pancakes?"

"Y-yes, I was just…AH! My pancakes!" Matthew squeaked, remembering that he had left a pan on the burner. The blond turned and sprinted into the kitchen, saving a poor defenseless pancake from certain doom. "Phew."

"So….Your sick with what?" Gilbert asked, a tone of amusement evident. He leaned against the doorframe; hands jammed into black jean pockets.

'Shit.'

"Academic Anemia." Matthew replied with a straight face.

Gilbert just stared at him, the blond had half a mind to face palm right then and there.

"Never heard of it, is that like you have low amounts of iron?"

"S-sorta, want some?" Matthew held up a stack of fluffy golden pancakes, drowning in maple syrup. Hoping to get the villain (who he beat up last night) off the topic of himself.

20 minutes later.

"Man this stuff is AWESOME! Are you sure there's no drugs in here?" In less than 17 minutes since the two had started to eat, Gilbert had drained two bottles of maple syrup dry.

"P-postitive" Matthew stared at Gilbert. Even _he_, the stereotypical Canadian, couldn't eat that much.

"Damn this shit is good, you need to get me some!"

"O-ok," Matthew mumbled.

Gilbert wolfed down the last pancake. "Y'know, until Francis pointed you out, I had never seen you before. How long have you been going to Hetalia?"

"Two years."

"Really? Wow, i can't believe i missed someone so cute!"

"Eh?" Matthew was turning a nice cherry red.

"So,", Gilbert leaned close, "you find a team yet?" Matthew shrank in his seat.

"N-not really. I p-prefer to work a-alone."

"Aww, that's a shame, you should really join me and my group!" Gilbert just kept on smirking at him, Matthew wanted to throw up. He could just feel his stomach tying itself in knots.

"Well it was awesome meeting you Matthew," The Prussian drank, _drank_, the rest of the syrup out of the bottle.

'Not like you haven't before' the blond grumbled in his head.

Gilbert stood up and ruffled Matthew's hair. "Thanks for the pancakes!"

"No- no problem." Matthew patted his hair back in place.

Gilbert ran out the door, leaving Matthew with a sticky table, a mountain of dirty dishes, and two empty bottles of maple syrup.

He sighed. Had someone come over for breakfast or had his kitchen been hijacked? "Well, so much for a quiet day. Kuma! Get out of the syrup!"

* * *

><p>Outer Limit of the City, 1:00 AM<p>

'There were rumors of something big going down here tonight,' Reaper stopped on a higher building, watching a massive Mortal Combat taking place on a lower building.

There must have been 20 plus heroes against just the Bad Touch Trio. Francis was knocked out to the left, and Reaper saw a blow to the back of Blood Lust's head had him out for the count, leaving Gilbert surrounded.

"Well, looks like high school gossip is reliable. Who knew?" the hooded man said to himself quietly.

"Time to get to work then-ngh!" Reaper grasped his side, he had taken double the recommended dose for humans in pain medication, but there was still a sharp spike of pain in his side. 'Whatever, I've had worse.' He thought to himself.

Reaper jumped and landed on a Optical Blaster and joined the fray, helping out Gilbert.

Needless to say, Gilbert was just a tad confused. Although he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth right now. If he hadn't shown up, the Prussian would be seeing stars by now.

"Finally choose the side of awesome?" Wham! Gilbert landed a blow to one face. Another one taking the vacant spot he had just opened up.

"Don't flatter yourself." Retracting his staff and extending it out the other end, Reaper hit a Telepathic in the stomach. "I just don't like unfair fights." He was so caught up with dealing with a tricky Super Strength, he didn't notice a fist make friends with the side of his face.

'Gh!" Reaper was luckily able to roll and not take in the complete impact on the ground. He got on his feet, just in time to be blasted by an energy beam from one of the ten still standing.

"Agh!" Grasping his stomach, Reaper ground his teeth, willing the pain away.

He looked up just in time to see the girl poised to hit him again. Crossing his arms over his chest and face, Reaper prepared for the worst.

The energy beam hit him where his arms were crossed, burning away the fabric and his skin. He had no idea it could hurt this much. The blast knocked him of his feet and over the roof's edge, straight for the pavement, 15 stories below.

Gilbert swung himself around to see Reaper fall. The dark angel reaching out above him, as if hoping to be caught, his mouth was open in a silent scream. 'Can he fly?' the albino thought fleetingly.

Only half a second later, when the Reaper's body was completely over the edge did the reality set in. "Shit!" Gilbert said to himself. Sprinting with energy he didn't even know he had, Gilbert hit the girl, effectively making her go down, and dived over the building.

'I am so screwed.' Reaper thought calmly. He looked up at the stars, unable to move his arms to even use a grappling hook.

A wave of fear hit Reaper hard, was he really going to die falling from a building? That was such a damsel in distress move! The idea of death by superhero cliché raced around in his mind.

Until a familiar set of ruby red eyes locked with his violet ones. Strong arms wound around his waist and moved under his knees. Caught in free fall, Gilbert held Reaper close to his chest.

Gilbert kept flying away from the group of hero's, soaring over street lamps and speeding cars. Once they were a good kilometer from the others, Gilbert stopped and landed in a secluded park.

"You ok there, Birdie?" He looked down into the shadow of his face; Gilbert was still holding him bridal style.

"Let go, I'm fine!" Said Birdie was pushing Gilbert's chest away and trying in vain to escape his grip.

Standing, however, proved harder than first thought. As soon as shock-absorbing soles hit dirt, Reaper's knees buckled and he once again found Gilberts arms catching him mid fall.

"Whoa!" Reaper was not used to being weak. He liked to be in control all the time, be able to master his own fate. This did not sit well with him at all.

"Sure you are." Gilbert chuckled. "Let's see your arms." Gilbert gently set them down on the cool grass, and pulled up both his sleeves and the tattered remains of Reaper's coat.

"What about your friends? Aren't they in trouble?" He desperately wanted to get rid of Gilbert.

"Nah, they'll wake up in an hour or two. After fights, hero's and villains just leave when it's done." Gilbert whistled. "Man did she do a number on your arms." He gently turned the wrist, watching for any reaction of pain. "Doesn't look permanent. Just make sure to air it from time to time and keep putting burn lotion on them. You got any medical tape?"

The shorter of the two pulled out some gauze and medical tape from a pack on his hip. "Here."

The two sat in silence.

"I've been meaning to ask you Birdie." Gilbert wound the gauze around Reaper's left forearm.

"I still think Dark Knight is a better nick name." Reaper mumbled.

"What's in this for you?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, you escape me one minute, fight me another and help me the next. You make no sense. So what's your motive? Everyone's got one."

Reaper looked down at his bandaged wrist, turning it to examine Gilbert's handy work. "I'm not everyone." He replied in a quiet voice.

"Ok, your arms are done."

"Thanks. You should probably go check on your friends." The strength in his legs had returned, and he was now able to stand on his own.

"Wait, so what was your answer?" Gilbert called to the retreating back.

Reaper stopped, and turned around slightly. "I already told you, I don't like unfair fights." And kept on walking.

Once the dark figure was gone, Gilbert scratched his head. "Man, when did I become such a softie?" he was smiling, until he realized that he and his team had failed today's mission.

"Aww man! Old man Winter's going to kill us! Ugh, I need a drink." Gilbert walked in the direction of where his friends were, planning to wake them up and go drown their failure in booze.

* * *

><p>Back inside his comfortable house, Matthew fell onto his couch in the living room, the dull pain in his arms and chest gone for now.<p>

He was completely content with the idea to go to sleep and wake up in a year or two. Now the only thing that was stopping him closing his eyes was his phone yelling at him to pick it up.

"Mnh, hello?" Who could be calling at 2 am?

"H-hello? Matthew?"

"Romano?"

"Yeah, its me. You got a minute?"

"Sure, what's up? S-something wrong?" Matthew sat up, relieved that he wasn't feeling pain anymore.

"I…uh, talked with him again, y'know, the guy who I messed up with?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"I think I just made it worse."

"Oh come on, what's the worst thing you could have said?" Matthew listened to what the other had to say, his eyes widening with each word. "Ah…."

"Uh huh. And so now I feel like shit, and I don't know what to do, so I called you."

Matthew leaned back on his couch. "Right now, the best thing is to forget about it, and deal with it in the morning. You'll just worry yourself sick if you keep going over how you screwed up.'

"You mean just sleep like nothing happened?" Romano sounded unbelieving.

"Yep. It's the best way for you to stay calm and fix it tomorrow. Trust me on this."

"But what do I do next?"

"Well…"

* * *

><p>Arthur didn't pride himself on his awareness, but he was able to tell when something was off. Today something big was off. Francis was asking for help.<p>

"Sod off Frog!"

"Please Arthur! I just need another set of eyes!" Francis was following Arthur around the school, trying to persuade him.

"Never! Why would I ever help the likes of you?"

Francis grabbed Arthur's wrist. "It's so we know Matthieu is safe."

Arthur blinked. "Matthew… who the bloody hell is Matthew?"

"Oh mon dieu. Our cousin, Matthew!"

Guilt hit Arthur again. Wasn't he supposed to go to his house last weekend? "What about him?"

"I fear that he is becoming drawn too deeply in this feud." The 'Feud' being the constant, almost asinine, fight between Hero's and Villains.

"Since when has Matthew been part of a group? Or fighting for that matter?"

"I don't know, but with his abysmal marks in extra's, I fear he will be hurt. So I just want you to keep an eye out for him, tell me if he acts differently."

"…Please." Now things were very strange. Francis _never_ asked hero's for help, especially his relatives!

"Fine. I'll keep an eye on him."

"Merci." Francis thanked him in a sober tone. It didn't suit him at all, Arthur thought as Francis walked away. The Frenchman looked better laughing, flirting and being his usual froggy self.

Arthur knew that finding Matthew and keeping an eye on him would be hard, he was always invisible. But what about a fairy? They were good at spotting unnoticeable things, and he could ask them to keep an eye on his cousin and report back every hour.

The Brit called his good friend Breena to follow the Canadian. Being shorter than three inches, and invisible to those who did not have the Sight, she was perfect for the job.

With a quick bow, the fairy went on her way.

Two hours later, she had returned with information. Most of which had caused Arthur to pause.

'His arm's are what?' Arthur asked in the language only the fae and he could speak.

'Just as I said! Bound in bandages. Poor dear looks like he was in a battle. He seems in high enough spirits. He was eating lunch with two young men and laughing, something about a tomato idiot.'

'Thank you Breena, make sure to keep watching him.'

'Yes, Arthur.' She was gone, flying down the hallway back to watch the Canadian.

Perhaps the frog had a good reason to watch Matthew.

* * *

><p>When Matthew reached his house that afternoon, he walked to his front door, instead of taking the back route like he normaly did. Good thing too, on his front door was a note from Alex Corp, and consequently, his mentor Tomas.<p>

Pinned on the mahogany door was an official note from the office of Tomas Kirkland, head of Alex Corp.

"Matta-

Thought you might need some new equipment. Sorry I had some of my friends sneak into your house. But I think this will make up for it. Jean Mark might have left you your Christmas gift early, and Nick's will be downstairs. Happy early Christmas!

Tomas.'

This did not bode well. The last time Tomas had anyone come over to his house was to kidnap him and drag Matthew to Bladde City for the first time. That was fun to explain.

Jean Mark and Nick had given him his Christmas present? But it was only the 3rd of December. Five bucks says the two had found their presents in his closet.

Inside, nothing had changed. His kitchen was connected with his living room, all of his stuff was still in his room, the guest room, bathroom and office were all untouched. All that was left was the basement. 'The…oh crap.' Matthew sprinted to the basement door, seeing bits of dirt and dust on the tiles near the door. Yep, Tomas had done something downstairs.

Opening the door attentively, Matthew switched on the lights. And nearly had a heart attack.

How on EARTH did Tomas do this?

The Canadian's basement had to have tripled in size! Two stories deep, and the size of a warehouse, the stairs were polished glass and stainless steel, glowing with blue light as he stepped down each one. The steps had a landing onto a platform overlooking the rest of the area, holding a massive screen, a table with 5 chairs around it, a chesterfield and a mini kitchen.

The bottom floor was littered with training equipment. Gymnastic bars, rings, weights, ledges, walls, a small foam pit, a massive open area (covered with foam mats of course) and what looked like a trampoline.

How? Oh yeah, Alex corp. Holy shit they were good. Matthew stepped onto the platform, not surprised to see that Nick had left a massive, pink present on the table. Yep, the giant pink ribbon with hearts screamed Nicolas' handy work. In flourished writing the tag said 'Open me!'

Matthew face palmed. The newfie had stuffed the stupid thing with about 20 bags of tissue paper. At the very bottom, Matthew found the object Nick had hidden. It was a black cylinder, only a decimeter long and as wide as a hockey stick. There was a tag on this too.

'Thought you might need this Mr. Grim Reaper. Have fun!"

The blond stared down at the metal rod. Matthew griped it tight, and jumped when the thing extended about two meters out. Matthew placed both hands in the middle, and he actually did yell when a blade, a foot and a half long, jutted out the top.

It was a scythe. Great, just the thing he needed. Hello desk, I believe you and head have met before. Matthew pushed an almost invisible button on the side, and the entire weapon shrank back into a cylinder. The blond pocketed it, and went back upstairs with Kuma.

His phone vibrated, a new text from Jean.

'I left something for you in the garage. Scratch her and I use your head as a tea cozy.'

Well, next stop the garage.

Inside, Matthew stopped breathing for a moment. Instead of his rusted and busted up pickup, there was a sleek, brand new motorcycle in it's place. The entire machine was one curved line of black and silver metal. It looked like a long sport bike, although you had to lean forward to work it. It looked like something out of a Japanese video game.

He ran his hands over the oiled leather, reveling in the feeling. "Wow." Matthew whispered. Jean Mark had to have spent weeks building this. Every piece was specially made, and on the side painted in storm cloud grey was a 'G.R' and a scythe in the background.

"Grim Reaper…nice." Ok, so the name was starting to grow on him. But he would never admit it to his friends.

Matthew made his way back into his kitchen, and noticed one last package for him on the dinning room table.

'Enjoy.

-From everyone.'

Matthew opened the case, finding black fabric look up at him. It felt like liquid in his hands, so smooth and flexible. It was made out of the same material as Shadow Stroke's, Tomas', uniform as well as his friends' uniforms. Strong enough to withstand bullets, heat resistant, and shock proof. Storm cloud grey, silver, black and white was the pallet, not too bad. Perfect for stealth. He may not have superpowers, but he was gifted with the ability to be a freaking ninja-assassin when he wanted too. ...Wait, weren't ninjas assassins too? Whatever, the clothes worked for him.

Upstairs, Matthew pulled the hood on, completing the outfit. He looked like a stranger, but still himself. It was a weird feeling to say the least. Actually, taking a second look, he actually did look like someone from Assassin's Creed. Staring at himself in the mirror, with Kuma at his leg, Matthew felt the need to move and run spark in him. He pulled his hood back, not really knowing what to do. The restless feeling grew, like he needed to do _something_ or he would explode.

Kuma nudged him towards the door. "Home before dark." The bear stated.

The bear was really smart when he wanted to be. Matthew gave him an extra helping of tuna with his salmon, nuzzled his fur, and ran out the back door, pulling his hood back on in the process.

* * *

><p>Reaper stood on top of the tallest building in the city, eyes darting around for a minute before stepping away from the ledge and walking away about 20 paces. He put in a pair of ear buds, and secured his secondary, smaller Mp3 player on his hip. Extending his new weapon, he pressed the play button.<p>

Fast beats hit his ears and he waited for the perfect moment. He took a deep breath, dashed to the edge and jumped.

"WOOOO HOOOO!"

Ok, so not the most dignified way to make an entrance, but fuck that! He was having the most fun he'd ever had in this city and no one was going to screw that up.

He used his scythe to maneuver in the wind, using its weight to land on a close rooftop. Reaper hit the ground running, and jumped to the next building.

Laughter bubbled up in his chest. He could feel something just glow inside him. With every jump and every fall, Reaper felt more and more like he was flying. How many times had he dreamed this? How many falling stars had he wished on for this chance?

What Reaper didn't know was the fact that as he was 'flying', dozens of kids in the city, most of them not Meta human, looked out their window and saw him fly. Each one grabbed a phone or camera, and recorded him. A few grabbed more professional cameras and caught some soon-to-be-internet-viral photos.

One of the kids who looked out their window was one Im Young Soo. He could see the Reaper just outside of his work's window. Young Soo was in awe. He had never seen someone move like that without using powers. The Korean almost spilt hot soup down his front before he caught himself.

Hundreds of teenagers and young adults watched in awe as he dived like a bird, none of them could tear their eyes away. Some ran out to the streets and saw him there, others ran out to a balcony and watched him 'fly' right over their heads. Everyone had pictures of Alfred F. Jones flying or some other famous Meta, but this guy was new, dark and acted human. In a word, he was different.

Reaper stopped on one last building by swinging his blade around him, with his body following one second later, and lifted his head up to the sky with his arms behind him. Relishing the feeling of adrenalin coursing through his veins and the night air against his skin, whooping the whole time. It was a dream come true. He had almost forgotten why he had said yes to Tomas all those months ago.

"Thank you ladies and gentlemen! Hope you enjoyed the performance by the one, the only, GRIM REAPER!" Cheer's followed. "I'll be here all year! Look out for me every night to see me kick ass!"

He laughed as the crowd grew and swelled in the street below him. Reaper gave one last curt bow and was off.

* * *

><p>The sun was down when Alfred looked out his window. He spotted his little brother walking, almost dancing, down the street.<p>

Matthew looked positively ecstatic he almost glowed. The way the blond was dancing down the street, he looked so happy he could burst.

And there was only one thing that could possibly make anyone that happy.

MATTIE HAD A CRUSH!

That would explain so much! The late nights, him evading Alfred like the plague, and being so secretive.

Wait, who on earth could Mattie like? Was it someone at their school? Whoever they were, they were going to have to deal with Alfred first!

* * *

><p>Matthew kept the amazing feeling with him all throughout the night and the next day. Singing a bit and moving through the halls with grace. Nothing could ruin this day, not even Ivan or the General.<p>

Except maybe Im Young Soo after he had taken him aside and said something that made his brain explode.

"Are you the Reaper?"

* * *

><p>Dun dun DUNDUNDUN Duuuun!<p>

Sorry to leave it off on a cliff hanger, but next chapter should be up by tomorrow. I just needed to get a lot of info in (i dont want this to be more than 23 chapters, after that it gets way too massive. And Alfred's little insert...feel free to face palm at your own pace.

2000 internet points to the first person who can guess what motorcycle i'm thinking of for mattie (or at least one you should keep in mind while imagining it) Hint, its from something square enix made. 4000 if you can tell me what book Gilbert gave Matthew


	10. Chapter 9 Past Revealed, Blood Shed

Ok, so this chapter killed me. umm, yeah this is a third re write so i hope it works out. Massive thanks to the person who pointed out my spelling errors. Cant tell them in person cause it was anonymous. Anyway, yeah. Were at the sort of halfway point here. ENJOY! More info at the bottom. And as always, massive thanks to whoever faved, watched, and reviewed. I still need the help, I'm a newbie.

* * *

><p>Ch. 9 Past Revealed, Blood Shed.<p>

There were four people in Matthew's basement, three were standing and waiting for the fourth to say something, while the fourth was trying to die. Really, he was trying to bury himself under the throw pillows on his new couch. Oh man did his head hurt. This all started so stupidly. Yong Soo had asked him a question in the middle of the hallway where anyone and their mother could hear, and the only thing he could thing of doing was drag him to his house, regardless of school or protests from the other party. When they got to his house, he tried calling Koaru but Koaru wasn't answering his phone, so he called Romano to tell Koaru to come to his house, and when Koaru got the message, Romano tagged along and now the four of them were in his basement when they should be at school.

Matthew stared at Yong Soo, waiting for the Korean to oust him to the two….well one person who was out of the loop here.

"How the hell did you figure me out?" Yong Soo jumped at the sudden, somewhat muffled, question.

"I-It was easy for me because your moves were so stylized. Last night I saw you on the rooftops, and you moved the same way in the school da~ze!"

Matthew blinked, the words sinking in. "Wait, so you figured out my identity from just five, maybe six minutes of me running around last night, and connected that to me in Hetalia? Damn you're good."

"Figured what out? What the fuck are you two bastards talking about?" Romano shouted.

"M-Matthew?" Koaru turned to his best friend, who was sprawled on the couch, looking half dead.

"Could you please explain, Koaru? I think my brain exploded twenty minutes ago."

"Uh, well. You see." The brunet was shaking. He could barely get a sentence out.

The Canadian sighed. Tomas was going to kill him, but there was no other way.

"I have no powers. Never have, never will. And I'm not the only one." He sat up. "Koaru doesn't and neither of you do, right?" After that, the tension in the room just got thicker.

"K-Koaru? You don't have powers?"

"I-I was about t-to ask you the same thing brother."

Matthew laughed breathlessly "Wait," He pointed at the two brothers, "You two live in the same house, yet you didn't know that about each other? Does this entire CITY have problems with communication?" The Canadian threw his hands up to the heavens. Why was everyone so scared of being a normal human? It wasn't like the freaking plague!

"Ok, what the fuck is going on?" Romano tapped his foot.

'Time for a big secret' Matthew thought grudgingly. 'Tom is really going to kill me.'

No going back now, "I am a member of an organization called 'Devil's Advocate'. Our main goal is to try to keep as much peace between the heroes, villains, and the humans as we can. You can think of us as the peacemakers of this world. Devil's Advocate is run by the vigilante Shadow Stroke, a man who works out of Bladde City in Scotland. Koaru joined us a few months ago. Most of us, practically all of us, are normal, true blue humans. No powers, no magic no nothing. Nothing except the skills we learn and teach each other.

"I joined because I had the chance to taste the excitement and joy that my cousins do every day and that they take for granted. Now I go out every night until around three and make sure the two sides in the school don't do anything too stupid."

Romano was the first to break the silence that followed. "So you have no powers…yet you've beaten up some of the strongest and dangerous people in Hetalia. Makes perfect sense to me."

"Yeah, I know I have a death wish, bit it's not without its perks. The cash being number 3 on the list."

"Cash?" Romano questioned. "You mean this…_thing _you're in pays?"

"Is Bismarck a herring? Governments, organizations, underground movements, hell even some heroes or villains will pay for my skills. And the job pays _stupidly well. _Like $20 000-and-up-a-job well. Trust me, you are _never _out of work with this career."

"So, how did you find this organization?" Yong Soo asked.

"This all really started last March, when I went to visit my cousin Fin in Ireland. I… got lost looking for his house and…"

* * *

><p><em>The streets were dark and the half moon shined down on the city. Down the alleyways, running feet tripped over garbage and boxes. Matthew didn't look back as he gasped for breath. A gang of thugs had been following him for 20 minutes and waited until the Canadian had been alone to strike.<em>

_About 5 men were running after him, 'Don't look back, just keep running and don't look ba-WHY DID I LOOK BACK?' Matthew tripped over a sewer grate and landed face first into the dirt and grime on the ground. Heaving for air, Matthew stumbled to stand. The large man of the group brought a crowbar down on his skull, Matthew able to move his head enough so that the metal weapon wouldn't hit his temple. _

_The world was spinning, he felt like he was about to die. So young and he would die here? He hadn't even been to a Stanley cup finals game yet, hell he hadn't even finished half of his bucket list and why was he thinking of Internet memes? Seriously, it's like the worst time to think about something so trivial. And of all things, Internet memes? Couldn't he think of something less stupid? Great, now that was all he could think of._

_Another blow didn't strike, instead, a black and red streak flew overhead and began to take down the gang members. After all of them had been administered a good punch or kick, they ran away, yelling about 'Shadow'-something._

"_You ok there b'y?" The red haired man kneeled down in front of the blond._

"_Y-yeah, my head hurts though. T-Thanks." If he was thinking straight, Matthew would have probably watched what he said. After all, he had just come out of nowhere. But a crowbar to the head does not equal perfect thought process. _

"_No problem. I'll bring ye to a hospital. Lets just get a look at ye from under that hood." The man pulled back his sweater's hood and gasped._

"_Matta?" _

_Wait, he knew that voice. "T-Tomas?" The Canadian's head was still swimming. _

"_MATTA! IT IS YOU!" He was now being squeezed to death by a vigilante who sounded like his oldest cousin. "Matta! It's been years! You've grown so much!" Ok, this was getting weird. "Why ye must have been 10 last time I saw ye." The redhead pulled off his domino mask, unveiling a pair of hazel green eyes and a sharp face. Yep that was his cousin. Matthew's vision was clearing now, and he was face to face with his eldest cousin Tomas Kirkland wearing a spandex suit. What on earth was going on? Last time he talked with Tomas, he was working as a desk jockey for some company. Not prowling the streets looking for criminals.. "Ye look so much older now. Let me get a good look at ye. Oh! Your arm! When did that happen?" _

"_When did wha- WHOA!" There was a long slice down his left bicep, bleeding through what was left of his shirt. He must have gotten it when he tripped._

"_Come on, I'll take you to my house and we'll fix ye up." _

_Tomas' 'house' was more of a palace. Matthew pulled off his shirt and looked around the room he was in. Seriously, it looked like a cross between the Batcave and Tony Stark's house. There was even a butler!_

_Tomas hung up a phone on the wall."I called Fin, he'll be here in a half hour, that ok?" Matthew nodded._

"_Here you are Master Kirkland," The older man brought a first aid kit and hot drink. "It will help the pain Young Master." _

"_Uh, T-thank you." He sipped the drink, the creamy mix slid down his throat with ease._

"_Thanks Alister. Ok b'y, lift your arms."_

_Matthew did as instructed and winced._

"_They really are scum, ganging up on ye like tha'. I swear, this whole town's goin' to hell in a hand basket. And ye too nice to use yer powers on em too." Matthew bit his lip. The action did not go unnoticed. "Ye… DO have powers, don't ye?" Tomas stopped wrapping the bandage._

_Matthew looked away, "Oh, Matta." Tomas stood up, making himself eye level with the Canadian. "Why didn't ye tell me?" His voice was barely a whisper, but with the acoustics of the cave, it was easily audible. _

"_I-I've TRIED telling all of you, b-but I just… I-I just-" Matthew buried his face into his cousins shoulder and just let himself break down._

"_Hey, hey, it's ok Matta it's ok!" Tomas rubbed his back, calming the Canadian down. Matthew wiped his face, hiccupping a little. "Matta," Tomas stared straight into Matthew's eyes, "let me tell you a secret."_

* * *

><p>"After that, stuff happened, and I wind up traveling all of Canada during the summer pulling jobs for clients, then I come back here and keep up my work." Matthew stopped to catch his breath. "Any questions?"<p>

"W-Was this always here?" Koaru piped up, looking around the basement.

"No," Matthew turned so he was supine, and flung an arm over his eyes. "The CEO of Alex set it up a few days ago after he heard of me being Grim Reaper."

There was a pregnant moment of silence, then "Wait, YOU'RE THE FUCKING GRIM REAPER?"

"Bit louder Romano, a deaf reindeer in Lapland didn't quite hear that." Matthew sighed, overlooking Romano's shocked expression. Matthew thought that his second identity would have been obvious. "Anything else?"

"Um... How did _you _figure out I have no powers? I've never told anyone that." Yong Soo asked after fidgeting for a moment.

"I snuck into the deans office one night. All non meta humans in Hetalia have horrible marks in every elective. So I searched the filing cabinets for the worst marks in options. Between the four of us, we have the worst grades in Hetalia history." Matthew explained. "That, and I took a leap of faith. Unfortunately, the four of us seem to be the only non Meta's in Hetaila, but at least we know now that were not alone." The four of them exchanged the same look of relief.

Matthew stood up, brushing off some dust. "Now here comes the complicated part. You guys all know my deepest secret. I'm trusting you with not only my life and identity, but also the secrets and lives of every other Devil's Advocate agent. Which means you have two options. One, go about your daily lives as if nothing happened and know that if you tell a soul about what I have just said, you will have a blade through your throat in a matter of minutes. Or two," Matthew extended his hand. "You can join us and experience things that you could never do on your own. So, what's it going to be?"

If anyone gave you the chance to become something that was deemed impossible, would you take that chance? Would you risk so much just for a taste of excitement? Wait they're teenagers, OF COURSE THEY WOULD!

"Alright, I'm in." Romano held Matthews hand in a death grip.

"Me too da~ze!" Yong Soo clasped the two hands in his own. Koaru simply nodded and placed his hand on top of the growing pile of extremities.

The blond let go of the breath he was holding. Matthew seriously thought that it wouldn't work. "Well now that that's settled, I have a call to make."

* * *

><p>11:00 PM Van Der Meer Household.<p>

Bella was scouring the Internet for any trace of Grim Reaper. She had found videos on YouTube, pictures on every photo site, even some artist's renditions on DA! There were forums arguing about him, she even printed the newspaper article about him.

She wasn't obsessed, but she was getting close. Right now Elizaveta and Kiku had been called in to help her get some more dirt on this guy. Well, right now they were pairing him up with well known hero's and villains.

"Ooh! This is a cute pairing!" Elizaveta said, pointing to a digital artwork on the screen. In the picture, Grim Reaper was pinned against a wall by one Alfred F. Jones, and was having his face eaten off by the American.

"Yeah, it is, but I'm looking for one that has his hood down." Bella said, tapping her fingers on the desk.

"Bella-san, why are you so interested in this Grim Reaper?" Kiku asked, not taking his eyes off of the screen.

(Superhero/villain Bio: Kiku Honda. Age 16. Super powers: Empathy. The ability to sense and change others moods. It's more useful than you think. Weakness: He needs to control his emotions or else his abilities will grow out of control, this can be used to your advantage by getting him to feel an emotion strong enough that he cannot think. Note: A master swordsman, he is trained in the art of meditation and is hard to get angry, but once you do, it is hard to calm him down.)

"He saved me, remember? I just want to thank him, and see him again. He's just so… oh what's the word?" The Belgian screwed her eyes shut in thought.

"Sexy?" Elizaveta prompted.

The two girls started to giggle while the Japanese teen simply smiled.

"Yes, but I was going to say secretive." Bella looked back at the computer. "I just want to know what's under that hood."

"Oh well, unless you want to go out at three am and be a damsel in distress, I think you have to deal with just the photos. Or hey! Kiku, why don't you draw him without the hood. You can just guess and see what happens."

"Hai, Elizaveta-san, but I am not sure it will be accurate." Kiku pulled out a sketchpad and began to draw.

Bella thought of something even better. "Actually, Kiku, you still owe me a birthday present, don't you?"

"H-Hai, but you haven't told me what you want."

"I have a request then. You think you can make me a comic with Grim Reaper and Alfred? It really is a hot pairing."

"Certainly. Uh, w-what will the rating be?" Kiku wasn't one to turn down a friends request for his art, but it would be a bit weird to draw one of his best friends intimately with an anti hero.

"Mature, of course. What else?" Bella had a shit eating grin on her face.

"H-hai." A red tint made its way across his cheekbones. 'I should probably not tell Alfred about this then.' He thought.

"Hey Bella, where's your older brother?" Elizaveta asked. The smell of pot was rather faint in the house, meaning Lars was out.

"He's probably at that warehouse again and he'll come back high as a kite. Why?"

"No reason. Oh! That looks so good Kiku!"

* * *

><p>Same Time, Warehouse District<p>

'Another night out, and another catastrophe to face.' Reaper mused in his head. In the west side of town, he had seen a bunch of trucks go through the downtown area earlier that day. And if working this gig for 6 months told him anything, white trucks with tinted windows equaled bad news.

Outside the main doors of the building were groups of people, watching as others unload the trucks. Each man was wearing a black outfit with a crest on the right shoulder and held a h caliber gun. All of them well trained with nothing to lose.

"Serge's men" Reaper mumbled. He himself had never seen the big boss in person, but he had been beating up enough of his henchmen and a few of his right hand men to figure out he's pretty badass and most normal people wouldn't mess with him.

He clutched his waist. The last time he clashed with a right hand man of this organization, he received a nice line up his chest. It was a rookie mistake that night too, but one he wouldn't make this time. Phantom pains fluttered down his chest and back. There was no good reason why baddies always had their hideouts lined with concrete, what was wrong with drywall?

As a side thought, sometimes Reaper felt like introducing some of the more stuck up metas (**Cough** Alfred **cough**) to some _real_ danger. Wouldn't be so tough with bullets spraying at you. Maybe he could hit Al with a taser later, just for kicks.

But why we're they _here?_ This city was marked as neutral territory, no adult metas, villain or hero, could plan anything here. Due mainly to the fact that both sides agreed to not harm any new metas until they had a grasp on their abilities, so no _real _villains pulled any shit here. Them even being inside the city limits was a massive breach of that agreement.

"No time like the present to find out." Shadows blanketed his form, making it easy to move into the building. "Man they have bad security. Only three guards and no motion sensors? Who do they take me for?" Reaper felt insulted. He was used to so much higher security, 300 goons, semi automatic weapons, cameras, lasers, that sort of thing. Not three dimwits with pistols. At least it would be an easy mission.

Two rooms of sneaking through shadows and three knocked out guards later Reaper was on the light fixtures in the main room, stalking one of the last guards on patrol.

"The boss'll want this set up tonight." A right hand man had just walked in with a good 20 men. "Serge worked hard to get this thing here, so we cant get caught."

'To~o late' He pulled out his throwing blades. Whatever they were planning, they weren't gonna get that far now. Four of the goons were carrying a steel crate with a high tech lock. It looked like a retina or fingerprint scanner. Meh, he could just blow it up and that'll be the end of it.

Something sweet assaulted his nose before he could throw an exploding blade. Marijuana smoke.

Behind one of the crates was a serene looking man, who smelled like he just came from the third day of Woodstock. And Reaper only knew of one guy who would be that high, Lars Van Der Meer.

Head, meet a new friend, Mr. Light fixture. If this guy was caught, he was going to have about 20 more places for smoke to come out of, courtesy of Ak-47's. Reaper sighed, time to add another job onto his growing hero/villain resume: rescuer of stoned morons!

Gracefully dropping down two meters away from Lars' hiding spot, Reaper caught the Dutchmen's eye. He held up a finger to his lips, telling Lars to stay silent. He nodded, his smoke addled brain finally telling him 'Danger'. Lars had only just noticed the scary looking men with guns and other various weapons a second ago.

Reaper moved a few feet up so he was beside Lars, and slowly moved in front of him.

'What're you _doing here?"_ Hissed Reaper.

"I always come out here, I didn't expect anyone else to be here tonight." Lars whispered.

'At least he wasn't playing hero.' Reaper thought bitterly. "C'mon, we've got to get you out of here."

"Ok boss, it's all set up." One random goon said.

"Good. Now lets get out of here. No doubt those goody goody heroes will be poking their noses in this." The right hand man turned, and Reaper stopped breathing. He was looking directly into Reaper's eyes.

After a few moments, he turned and left through the door.

But not before he threw an explosive less than ten feet from the two.

**Beep**

Reaper stared wide eyed, and turned to Lars. The blond gave him the same look.

**Beep. Beep. Beep.**

'Oh…Fu-'

**BOOM!**

Light exploded in Lars' vision. His ears were ringing and his skin was on fire.

Once the lights had cleared from his eyes, he wiped the ash from his eyes. Other than a few first degree buns on his feet and legs, he was ok. But something was blocking his vision, looking up, he saw who it was.

Lars gaped at the figure above him. Reaper, THE Reaper had just shielded him from most of the blast. Something wet fell on his cheek. The ash blond wiped his face and brought it to his eyes. Blood. Dark, ruby red blood coated his fingertips. Reaper leaned all his weight on the crate behind Lars, propping him up. He was breathing heavily and calmly. Rubble fell a few feet away, and the two could hear footsteps and voices outside.

The hooded teen looked behind him and turned back to look at Lars. "**Pant**, A-Are you **gasp** ok?"

That made him snap out of the trance he was in and find his voice. "Yeah. Y-yeah I'm fine."

"Good" His head dropped down onto his arms. The voices were getting closer, "We need a distraction. Can you use your powers still?" Lars nodded. "Alright," Reaper swallowed hard. "I need you **huff** to do two things. One, create as many shadows as you can without making them look conspicuous. They'll be back to see if we survived, so we need to stay hidden."

"And two?"

Reaper paused. "Manipulate my mind so I don't feel pain."

Lars had had some odd requests for his abilities, but using them as a pain-killer. That was a new one. "Why?"

"There's a chunk of metal that could be used as a tire iron embedded into my back. We cant get out of here unless you follow me, and I can't get out of here when I'm constantly cringing from pain. Good enough answer?" Reaper snarled. He was bleeding out a good 2 pints every ten minutes and this guy had the gall to ask WHY?

"Alright, sorry." Lars closed his eyes, and within seconds, the pain in Reaper's back disappeared, and the entire warehouse was covered in shadows. Just in time too, the doors flew open and Serge's men came flooding in.

"Good. Now we just…" Reaper grabbed Lars' hand and sprinted behind a support beam. Waiting a moment as a goon walked past them, he sprinted to the next one. Now all they had to do was get out through a window and they were out of there.

The rubble made a good ladder for Lars to get up to the open window. Just before making it outside, Reaper turned and threw an exploding blade at the crate, actually completing his mission.

Two blocks away, Lars and Reaper gasped for breath. Sirens blazed through the night.

Reaper turned and glared into Lars' eyes. "Let me give you some advice, stop smoking pot in a ware house. It's bad for your health." Reaper stepped forward so he almost touching the other. Fisting the older teens shirt, he finished "And it just might get others killed, not just _you!_"

With a click on his communicator, Reaper's new motorcycle came speeding up and stopped in front of them. Turning his heels, the cloaked boy straddled his bike and sped off.

Leaving Lars to deal with the cops.

* * *

><p>"He got away boss. Damn kid's too good at that disappearing act of his."<p>

"It does not matter right now. What matters is he knows I'm now working in this town, and he will try to stop me. Anything that we lost tonight is inconsequential."

"Right boss. You want us to follow him?"

"No. You will not even come close to capturing him. Besides, he will come back."

"Fine. My boys will start cleanup and get to work on the next plan then."

"One more thing. When the boy strikes again, I want him brought to me, _alive._"

General Winter turned off the phone. Tonight had been a true testament to the boy's skills. It was obvious that he was still going through training, but after he had completed it… General Winter smirked. The young man had such power, locked away, laying dormant just waiting to be tapped into and used. Even if he _was _simply human.

He turned again to stare out at the city. "You cannot run forever. Sooner than later, fate will catch up to you," He placed his left hand on the glass and smirked.

"Matthew."

* * *

><p>Ok! so we're halfway done! next instalment is intermission. But this is a bit different. NOTICE! If you want to know who's powers are what, please leave a comment telling me so. The next chapter will be the Bio's of everyone, a lot of Koaru's Fun Facts, and a playlist just in case you want some fitting music. Anyway, leave a comment telling me what you want to know specifically, and thank you so much for waiting and reading so far!<p> 


	11. Intermission

Intermission

1. Heroes

Alfred F. Jones. (America): Age 16. Super Powers: Super strength, hearing, x-ray vision, etc. Weakness: Easily susceptible to electric shocks, it shorts out his powers. Note: Alfred F. Jones was born with a strong sense of right and wrong, you do not want to try and change his mind on what right is. You won't win.

Arthur Kirkland (England): Age 17. Super Powers: Magical abilities with a strong connection to fairies and potions. Weakness: use of dark magic against him. Note: He will beat you up if you say you do not believe in his magical friends. If you cannot see them, then you do not posses the Sight. WARNING! Do not eat his food, it is poisonous due to the fact he confuses a lot of his magic textbooks with cookbooks.

Feliciano Vargas (North Italy): Age 16. Super Powers: Super Speed. Weakness: Friction. Note: While little to no friction will stop Venitiano's use of his powers, his bigger weakness is being motivated to actually use them. He is quite a coward and will only use his powers to run away, most times from the British, we have no idea why.

Ludwig Bedishmit (Germany): Age 17. Super Powers: Canine manipulation. Weakness: he can only summon a certin number of canines at a time, and the more he summons, the weaker his control is.

Bella Van Der Meer (Belgium): Age 16. Super Powers: Mind Control and telekinesis. Weakness: Headaches and control over her powers. Note: She is part of the Hetalia Yaoi club, founded by Superheroes' Kiku Honda and Elizaveta Hedervary.

Lars Van Der Meer (Netherlands): Age 18. Super Powers: Mind and space manipulation. Weakness: Using his powers takes energy, also, the more people or things that Lars Van Der Meer manipulates, the weaker his hold is. Note: having a strong will and education on what your reality is will raise your chances of regaining your mind and your reality plain will return to normal

Kiku Honda (Japan): Age 16. Super Powers: Empathy. The ability to sense and change others moods. It's more useful than you think. Weakness: He needs to control his emotions or else his abilities will grow out of control, this can be used to your advantage by getting him to feel an emotion strong enough that he cannot think. Note: A master swordsman, he is trained in the art of meditation and is hard to get angry, but once you do, it is hard to calm him down.

Romulus Vargas (Rome): Age 55. Super Powers: Regeneration. Weakness: Being the dean of Hetalia, he will do anything to save his students, and more importantly, his grandsons. Note: While he is an airhead, he is one of the oldest and most experienced heroes in the world, he is not someone to cross.

2. Villains.

Gilbert Bedishimit (Prussia): Age 17. Super Powers: Flight and bird like abilities and senses. Weakness: High levels of serotonin. Note: the two most effective ways to administer said amounts of serotonin are by injection, possibly leading to death, or by exposing Gilbert Bedishmit to objects or people that are deemed cute. No I am not making this up.

Fransis Bonefois (France): Age 17. Super Powers: Seduction and high stamina. Weakness: Being hit in the 'vital regions'. But if you were strong enough, to get close enough, to land that kind of hit and not be seduced by Francis you were one out of a few million. Francis and his two best friends made up the second best villain group in the school.

Antonio Fernandez Carriedo (Spain): Age: 17. Supervillain name: Blood Lust. Super Powers: Animal mimicry. Note, Often confused with animal morphing, Animal mimicry allows the user to increase speed, reflexes etc. for a short amount of time. Weakness: Depending on what animal the host copies, their personality may change. Also, if the host uses one animal for extended periods of time, they will begin to display physical qualities as well as mental. This can be used to your advantage. Additional, he is one of the only students in Hetalia Academy that has his/her future alias name picked out.

Ivan Braginski (Russia). 17 years old. Super Powers: Shadow Manipulation. Weakness: The more he uses his powers non-stop; the more his sanity is decayed. Note He has split personalities due to his powers, one is friendly and likes to help people, the other wants to split your top half from your bottom. It is quite easy to tell when Ivan is one or the other, due to a 'Kol'ing sound he emits when he switches personalities.

Carlos Huarez (Cuba): Age 17. Super Powers: Combustion. Weakness: Water or ice; however he loves ice cream. Used to be a superhero, but after a fight with Alfred Jones, he switched to become a villain. Constantly confuses Matthew Williams for Alfred Jones, and beats up both.

Serge 'General' Winter: Age 32. Super Powers: ? Note: Cold and calculating, he is one of the most wanted men in the world. For some reason, this man has set his sights on Matthew Williams.

3. Devils Advocate Agents

Matthew Williams (Canada): Age 16. Full Agent. Code name: Grim Reaper. Uses a scythe, truncheons and throwing blades. Sticks to shadows and back alleys. A fast learner, Matthew rose up the ranks to become an agent in less than a year. Knows all the basics of all combat and hacking, but is a true master of improvisation and stealth.

Tomas Kirkland (Scotland): Age 26. Head of the organization, goes by the name Shadow Stroke. Uses a machine embedded in his back that allows him to create a magnetic field that breaks down an opponents mind. He was given this name because when he knocks out opponents, it looked as if shadows are attacking you.

Finnigan Kirkland (Ireland): Age 21. Full Agent. One of the only agents with abilities. Codename: Phase. The head of training and education of D.A he has the ability to phase through solid objects. He cannot phase through glass however.

Jean Mark (Quebec): Age 16. Full Agent. A genius with auto mechanics and machines. Code name: Gearhead. Note: he absolutely hates his nickname. Jean Mark is actually quite the body artist, he loves to tattoo and pierce himself and his friends. Also, he may seem standoffish, but the more he teases and berates, the closer of a friend he considers you.

Nickolas McRoy (Newfoundland). Age 18. Full Agent. Codename: Bioshock. Using two gloves with energy harnessing crystals on the back of the hand, he can create electrical pulses and attacks without harming himself. He conciders himself as the older brother of the new agents, and teases them non-stop. This does however, make him a target for pranks. But beware, you prank him he will prank you back twice as hard.

Koaru Wang (Hong Kong): Age 15. Codename: Digit. Hacker and computer wiz, he's the first guy you go to for information. Note: While he does not like to talk much, he will deliver more than enough information when asked. If he doesn't talk much to you outside missions, don't take it personally.

Romano Vargas (South Italy): Age 16. Code name: Berserker. A strong fighter who has only just started his training. His biggest weakness is his inability to control his emotions and his ability to act upon them. However, he is a more than capable fighter once he logically thinks in a fight.

Playlist: Some songs that fit the story quite well and the chapters they correlate to.

Kick Ass By Mika (Any chapter) ((Note, this song inspired the title and story))

The Middle By Jimmy Eat World (1st and second)

Firework By Katy Perry (9th chapter)

Paper Moon or Guts By All Time Low (Any chapter after 4)

Lucifer By SHINee (5th chapter)

Welcome To the Black Parade By My Chemical Romance (Any chapter after 5)

Earth By Jesper Kyd (Assassin's Creed soundtrack) (Any chapter) ((Yes I'm a nerd))

Hide and Seek By Imogen Heap (Later Chapters)

Heroes Get Remembered, Legends Never Die By Four Year Strong (Any chapter after 5)

For The Reunion From Advent Children Soundtrack (Later Chapters)

I Don't Care By Fall Out Boy (Later Chapters)

I've Got It All(Most) By Modest Mouse (1st and Last chapters)

Keep Your Head By The Ting Tings (Any chapter)

Go ahead and choose your own playlist, this is just a base and/or some suggestions.

* * *

><p>I have no idea why this took me so long... i think it's cause i couldnt think of any powers for Luddy. Anywho, if i missed someone you want to know about, msg me or something and I'll post it with the next chapter.<p>

As a side note, the second half will be a good 3 chapters longer than the first if not more. And i didn't put Mr. Bedishmit on the list for a reason.


	12. Chapter 10 Misunderstanding & Alcohol

ok! so i missed South Korea last chapter, he's down at the bottom. Sorry if i haven't replied to all reviews yet, but i always enjoy them. Epic meal time ref is in here, see if you can spot it.

Thank you for everyone who faved, added or reviewed. This is a more slow paced chapter, just delving into the relationships of the characters more. hope you don't mind ^_^

* * *

><p>Ch 10. Misunderstandings and Alcohol Are Fun.<p>

"Oh, you've got to be joking."

"Nope!"

"_This _is how you stay flexible and in shape?" Matthew pointed to his computer screen, "You learn the dance moves to Korean pop songs?"

"Yep!" Yong Soo grinned back at him. "You wanted to learn my martial art moves right? You're not flexible enough yet, so this is the best way to get limber! Trust me da~ze!"

"Ok then." Matthew swung his arms. "I'll try anything."

Two hours later, Matthew was convinced that the singers in Korean boy bands were _not_ human. No one could do that sort of thing for a living and live to tell the tale.

"Don't worry da~ze! You're getting it! And this is just so you keep flexible. Then I can teach you some fighting moves."

"I'm not sure I'll live that long."

Yong Soo and Matthew had been training every day after school. When Matthew had his big reveal, the Canadian called up Shadow Stroke on the big screen and explained it all. After a few choice words and some blackmail threatening, Tomas had relented and allowed Yong Soo and Romano to join in. After that, it was up to Matthew to teach them all what he knew, and for them to do the same. Hence dying by korean pop.

"Thanks Yong Soo, but I still have a long way before I can even compare to you."

"Yes, but you've progressed amazingly fast! I'm impressed da~ze!"

Matthew took a swing from his water bottle and wiped his face. Martial arts, or rather, training for them really took a lot out of him, but the payoff was worth the sweat and blood. And the groupings… but lets not go there.

From the landing, Koaru waved to Yong Soo, telling him it was time to go.

"Is it 6:00 already? We better get going Matthew, our brothers and sisters will be worried. Lets go Koaru!" The two Asian boys grabbed a meat bun each from his downstairs fridge, yelled a goodbye and ran out the front door.

Matthew decided to call it a night. Things were quiet around town these days. After that stunt he pulled three days ago, the adult metas from Hetalia had been puling double duty by watching the city at night. While the police and the teachers from Hetalia had grilled Lars, he had left before they could ask him anything, he doubted they would be happy to see Grim Reaper any time soon.

Picking up Kumajirou from his now second favorite spot in the house (very middle of the couch downstairs), the duo made their way upstairs. Snow was lightly falling outside, although it would melt by tomorrow afternoon. Winter break started yesterday, and his cousins would be paying him a visit. Matthew would not lie, the idea that his mentor would finally see the end result of his training made him edgy. The blond just vibrated with nervous energy, he kept handling a set of knives that he had specially crafted last summer. Every sound made him jump a bit on the inside.

So it was understandable that he freaked out when Alfred slammed his door open and screamed "HEY MATTIE! IT'S MOVIE NIGHT!" Alfred should count his lucky fucking stars that Matthew hadn't thrown a blade right into his eyes. Instead, Matthew clutched the weapon in a vice grip. Pain ran up his arm and it took him a minute to realize he had just sliced his palm open with the sharpened side imbedded into his hand. Considering he had just given himself a cut the size of the Grand Canyon, the fact that he could calmly tell his cousin to wait in the den for him meant he was the King of Improv.

Matthew was glad that his hoodie was blood red; he hid his hand inside the sleeve and nonchalantly walked into his bathroom. Freaking out just a bit on the inside Matthew wrapped his hand and waited for the wound to stop bleeding. He sprayed an antiseptic onto his palm and covered it with an Alex Corp product designed to mend cuts and scrapes in an instant. Once again, thank God for Alex Corp.

"So, what's up?" Matthew walked down the stairs.

"I just wanted to watch a movie with my baby bro. Do I need another reason?" Alfred flashed his famous grin at his cousin.

"You always have one." Matthew flopped down beside the American.

"Ahaha! Nah, not now, we just haven't had a movie night in forever!" Alfred wrapped his arms around Matthew's shoulders.

Yes Alfred was the cause of a lot of Matthew's woes, and yes sometimes he forgot Matthews name, but he was still family. And the American could be really caring when he gave something a second thought.

The flat screen began to play the movie, ('Who Framed Rodger Rabbit' thank God it wasn't horror) and as usual, the two of them would stop the movie at random times, talk and go grab more snacks. It was like an unwritten rule, if they were watching a movie together, they had to stop and talk for a good 20 minutes each time, and go get more pop and chips. Matthew had to admit, this was the most fun the two had together for a long time.

"Hey, Mattie," Alfred paused the video, (on a shot of Jessica Rabbit I might add) "I've got a question."

Uh oh, Alfred was thinking, this was never good. "Yeah Al?"

"Have you ah…been going out to meet somebody at night recently?"

Matthew choked on the soda pop in his mouth. "W-why do y-you think that Al?" His mind immediately thought of the two boys who had stolen his first kisses. Matthew could feel the blood rush to his ears and his cheekbones.

"Because you're always busy, and you rarely hang out with the family any more! It's like you have a double life!"

"Y-yeah, but that doesn't mean I'm s-seeing anyone!"

"Why are you being all defensive Mattie?" Alfred pulled Matthew into a bear hug, determined to squeeze the truth out.

"I'm not!" Matthew flailed to get out of his cousins grip.

"Is it a guy?"

"H-huh?" He stopped squirming.

"Are you dating a guy?"

"What!"

"Matt you _know_ I'm ok with you being gay or something like that! _I_ even swing both ways!"

"Al, I am _not dating someone!_"

"So it IS a guy!"

"Wha-? Look I just said I wasn't, how does that translate into I am?"

"Who is he?"

"Nobody! Jeeze Al, can we drop this?"

"Do I know him?"

"NO! Cause I'm not-"

Alfred cut him off "Is he a villain? Is that why you wont tell me?"

"Al~!" Matthew whined. This had to be worse than watching a movie and your parents walking in on you in the middle of the one sex scene. Hell this was worse than Francis explaining every sex position he knew of. (This had happened before; Matthew was washing his ears out for hours.)

"Is he Grim Reaper?" Al clutched Matthew against his chest.

"W-Why on earth do you think that?" Matthew turned to look at Alfred.

"Mattie I don't care who you like but this guy's going to get you hurt! He's not good but he's not evil! You never know what he might do! Don't go out with him!" The American promptly started to squeeze Matthew against his chest, like a child hugging their stuffed toy. Clearly Alfred would not listen to reason, or sanity for that matter.

"Alfred!" The outburst by his normally shy cousin made Alfred stop. "Look, I swear I'm not dating anyone, but if you wont believe me than can I at _least _make you believe I'm not going out with the Reaper?"

"Promise?" Alfred looked at him with tears in his eyes. Ok, even Matthew couldn't resist Al's puppy face sometimes. (Good thing it worked both ways.)

"I promise Al." He turned back to the screen. "It's not like it's possible anyways." Matthew mumbled.

"What?" Alfred asked.

"What?" Matthew replied.

"Never mind." The American pressed play on the remote.

Jessica Rabbits song was interrupted by Alfred's phone going off. Being polite, (for once) Alfred left the room and came back looking like a kicked puppy.

"Sorry bro, Iggy just called and said I had to go and meet up with the rest of the Heroes. You want to come?"

"Nah" He waved off, "You go on ahead, lord knows they need you." Alfred _did_ actually have some responsibility as a hero, and Matt couldn't hold that against him.

Alfred ruffled Matt's hair "Thanks man." In the blink of an eye, Alfred was gone. Probably used super speed.

* * *

><p>"So Iggy what's up?" Outside of Arthur's house, the Englishman and Francis were waiting on his porch for Alfred.<p>

"Family meeting, and stop calling me that!"

"Family mee- Is this about that refried beans incident, cause I can explain."

"No you git! This is completely different!"

"Hey, wait. If this is a family meeting, shouldn't we have gotten Mattie to come with me?

"Sorry Alfred, but dear Matthieu is what we are talking about."

"Huh?"

"We… think Matthew may be getting hurt pretty badly, and we wanted to know if you saw anything off with him lately." Arthur explained. If Alfred, with his ability to overlook something two inches from his face noticed something, than Matthew was in real danger.

A look of recognition fell on the American's face. "OH! That! It's ok guys, I already took care of it."

"You did?" Arthur and Francis said in unison.

"Yeah! We talked it over, and things are going to be just fine. You guys have nothing to worry about. Trust me!" He flashed them his award-winning grin.

"You're sure about this?" Francis pressed.

"Absolutely! Things with Mattie are going to be ok!" He gave them the thumbs up and went on his way, saying he would go back and watch the rest of the movie with Mattie.

"Well what do you know, Alfred might not be as thick as we give him credit for."

"Still…" Francis trailed off.

* * *

><p>Two days later.<p>

Tomas and Fin had arrived late last night, and with them came Jean-Mark and Nick, much to the Canadian's delight and horror. Right now his two friends were bunking with him, while Tom and Fin were in Arthur's house.

Over the last 24 hours him, Jean-Mark, Nick, Yong Soo, Romano, and Koaru had been hanging out at Matthew's, training, trying out some new equipment, and just goofing off (And of course, swapping embarrassing stories. What was the point of being like brothers if you couldn't do that?). Right now Romano, Yong Soo and Koaru were being instructed in Matthew's basement by Tomas, Fin was in the kitchen. The three other boys were in the den.

"Jesus Matt, those are bad scars. You get ambushed or something?"

Nick was referring to the new scars on Matthew's arms and back, which were now visible as Matthew pulled off his hoodie. The wounds on Matthew's back were still somewhat fresh, luckily not being nearly as deep as he first thought.

"Nah, they've just been accumulating since I got here. Some bad shit's gone down 'round here. It's like bad luck follows me."

"Who says it needs to follow you? You _are_ bad luck."

"Thanks Jean, you really know how to make a guy feel loved."

His comment was met with a pillow in the face. This sparked Matthew into whomping Jean in the side, then Jean tried to throw another pillow at Matt, but he missed and hit Nick instead. Nick promptly got up, grabbed two pillows, and stood over the two younger boys.

After five minutes of the two hitting each other, they looked up to see Nick wearing a shit-eating grin. After that they were eating feathers.

This is how the great pillow war started, and was only broken up once the three of them had collapsed on the den's chesterfields panting.

"Alright boys! What d'ye want to eat?" Finn called from the kitchen. Matthew, Jean Mark, and Nicolas were lying on the couch, limbs tangled and still gasping for breath.

"I don't know," Nicolas told Fin.

"Something with French toast." Jean mark said. His legs on Nick's, and his torso half on Matthew's.

"And poutine." Matthew added.

"Hotdogs" Nickolas said after contemplating for a minute.

"Maple syrup"

"And bacon strips," Matthew chirped.

"And bacon strips," Nick replied.

"And bacon strips" Jean-Mark this time.

"And bacon strips" All three boys said in perfect harmony. Grinning at each other before laughing their asses off.

It was obvious they were overly tired, "Ye want what?" The Irishman poked his head into the den.

"It's the state of the art sandwich, Finn." Matthew turned to look at his older cousin.

"It's the state of the floor I'm worried about." Finn stared at the young boys with disbelief.

"Hey, the trainees are here." Nick sat up, facing the 3 boys and one man who entered.

"Ugh, worst winter break ever!" Romano was wincing slightly, as were the two brothers. Obviously Tom wasn't going easy on them. Matthew shivered. Thank god his training days were over.

"Don' worry, the bruising goes away fast enough. Why don' ye all go n' get something t' eat?" Tomas patted Romano's back. "Matta, I need to speak t' ye."

"Okay…."

Once everyone had left, Tomas sat down across from Matthew.

"What's up, Sir?"

**BONK**

"I told ye not t' call me 'Sir'. I'm yer cousin, so call me Tom!"

"Ow!" Matthew rubbed the spot where Tomas had whacked him with a box.

"Mngh- oh!" Matthew's face lit up when he saw the box. The D.A insignia was carved in the top, and the lock on the front was no larger than his thumbnail.

The redhead unlocked the box and pulled out a pen. He held out his hand and Matthew gave him his wrist. Tomas was about to initiate Matthew fully into Devil's Advocate. After this, he would be a full agent, and after school, he would be in charge of a city (or a country, they were pretty spread out.)

"You're sure about this? There's still time to be a normal teen."

Matthew locked eyes with Tomas and said, "Who says I was ever normal?"

A hum sounded in the room as Tom placed the pen on Matthew's wrist.

* * *

><p>His wrist stung, the area where the tattoo was penned was still raw, but it was worth it. After the skin healed, there wouldn't be a trace of the design. A chemical would trigger the ink to reappear, and disappear the same, making it near impossible for anyone but D.A agents to know who was a member and who wasn't.<p>

Last summer he had given the oath in front of other agents, but Tomas had been out of the ink needed to complete the ceremony (that was a really awkward moment for everyone there). So he had to wait till now to be a full member.

In celebration, Nick had gone out afterwards and bought a few cases of beer and some coolers. Tom approved, Fin didn't and Romano and Yong Soo got smashed. Who knew they were lightweights and Koaru and him could hold their liquor?

Now on his bed, Matthew was feeling the buzz of the alcohol slip and he was feeling pretty content with the world.

Too bad his feeling of peace wouldn't last.

Every time Matthew closed his eyes, his mind kept going back to that incident in the ware house a few days ago. Something felt wrong about the entire thing. He still hadn't seen what they were bringing in to town, due to the fact he had to rescue Lars.

Matthew still didn't know much about Serge either. He had scoured the internet before and all he came up with was bounty fees. Most of them posted by the big man himself. Other than that the man was untraceable. It was like life was playing a bad joke on him, the invisible boy couldn't find something. Yeah, way to go life, you can make a crappy pun.

Looks like there was only one way to find out information about him and that was to work the underground. Not something Matthew liked to do. It usually involved him either dressing in drag or compromising his morales in some way. Usually both. But if that was his only option...

Wait…the school. The dean had records on every hero and villain in the world! Unfortunately the school was closed for the holidays, but he couldn't wait till after new years to get information. He'd have to break in.

Only one problem, Hetalia high had top security, even by Koaru's standards. It would take a day or two for even the boy from Hong Kong to bypass the security.

He sighed, better tell him now instead of putting it off.

Matthew turned on his com and clicked on Koaru's icon. After a few moments, the stoic face of his friend came into view.

"My friend." Koaru greeted.

"Hey Koaru, you have anything planed for the next few days?"

He shook his head.

"Good, I have a bit of a favour to ask. You think you can get a layout of Hetalia's security and a quick-hack?"

(Koaru's Fun Facts: A quick–hack is a code created before a job that temporarily hacks all security systems. It's often used in jobs where there are hundreds of security measures, but little time to hack on sight. Often, quick-hacks are stored in a holo computer or a device that sends the code wirelessly.)

Koaru stared blankly at him.

"I need some info from the Deans office and it cant wait till after the holidays."

"Ah." Koaru nodded.

"Thank you so much Koaru!" the brunet simply stared at him. "And yes I'll pay for your snack foods." Koaru gave a slight smile.

"Two days, three at the maximum."

"Thanks." The screen went dark, leaving Matthew to wait for the next few days.

Kuma moved a bit in his sleep and mumbled "Bad idea."

* * *

><p>This was an easier chapter, and shit really hits the fan next chapter. oh and... Im Yong Soo (South Korea) Age 16. Code name: Gentle Strike. A strong fighter, with a keen eye and a love for grouping boobs, even if you don't have any. A master of dozens of martial arts, he will most likely become the top trainer for Devils Advocate later in life, and he is the first person you go to for flexibility and endurance training. Although most people avoid his lessons due to his love of grouping peoples chests and his need to say everything originated in Korea.<p>

i know that the parents walking in on the one sex scene has happened to everyone. And if it hasn't it will. You're watching a movie, and in that entire movie, theres only one sex scene, or even if its just a less than innocent scene, thats when your parents need to come in. Its like they have a radar for that kind of thing. yeah.


	13. Chapter 11 The Dark Path

Yaaaay~! after a non intentional hiatus im back! Super sorry everyone, but i had to prepare for a huge anime convention this past weekend ( i was in artists alley and had a shit ton of last minute stuff to do) but thankyou so much everyone for your feedback and the fact that you're still reading this makes me smile!~ But now that im back up, and i dont have school for a while, i should be updating a lot more regularly. Hope this makes up for my absence!

This chapter we delve a bit more into Romano and Gilbert's heads. After all, i like sub plots XD Enjoy!

* * *

><p>Ch. 11 The Dark Path Unintentionally Walked Upon.<p>

Christmas had come and gone, and New Years was only 2 days away. Matthew had made out like a bandit this year for Christmas, new com unit and an ear piece from Tom and Fin. Maple syrup from Jean (straight from Quebec) and other awesome stuff. Tom and the rest of the rabble had gone home early this morning, and after a trial fight against Fin, Jean-Mark and Nick, Tom gave his approval. (Matt had beaten all of them, but it took a good 30 minutes of non stop brawling.)

As a bonus Koaru had given him a holo computer with the quick hack. Perfect. He would work tonight. No point in putting this off.

After the clock struck 10, Matthew pulled on a black hoodie and stealth gear. In the off chance he was caught tonight, he would forego the reaper look and go with a student look. With a button on the bike's remote, the Reaper logo melted into black paint. Ahh, good old nano tech. Alex pulls through again.

Helmet on, the monster of a machine reeves to life. Quick as a flash, Matthew made his way out into the chilly air.

* * *

><p>12 am.<p>

"Lovi! Please, just ONE date! For New years eve in the city square? I promise you will have fun!"

"For the last time NO! Tomato bastard!" SLAM! Romano hung up on Antonio for what felt like the hundredth time that evening. He had been calling for days asking Romano out for new years. Couldn't that idiot get the hint?

Romano had his reasons why he wouldn't go out with him, but no one would know why. Except his best friends….maybe.

'Ve~ Was that Antonio again?" Feli, his younger brother asked.

"Yes." Romano said grudgingly.

'Ve~ Did he ask you out again? Why don't you say yes?" Feli had that stupid smile on his face, like the world was so simple! "You like him don't you?"

"NO! Sh-Shut up Feli!"

"Ve~ We'll I'm going to the new years party with Ludwig!"

"The potato bastard?"

"Yep, he's really sweet."

"A-ghn-a.. WHATEVER!" Romano was choking on his words, he couldn't even berate his brother for going out with a guy who might break his heart. Romano slammed his room door shut and slid to the floor.

He had his reasons on why he wouldn't date Antonio, even though it was all he ever wanted to do.

Once again, the phone rang. Romano turned it on and shut it off right after.

Two seconds later his com went off.

"Hello?"

"_ROMANO! It's me! I need some help."_

* * *

><p>Antonio was not taking this turn of events well.<p>

Right now he was at Francis' house again, clutching his cell in one hand, and his tomato plush in another. All three of the bad touch trio were there, eating chocolate ice cream like a bunch of high school girls with crushes. Which, two of them were. Well not the girls thing but…you get the idea.

"One more time! He's gotta say yes soon!"

"Mon ami, you are becoming a stalker."

"I can't help it! I just want to go on one date with him, that's all! Just one!"

"You should probably stop for now Toni, you can try again tomorrow and be awesome then."

Antonio mulled this over for a minute, before, "Once more, that's it!"

Francis sighed. There was no getting through to him now.

Leaving his love sick friend to pine over a cell phone, he turned to his other best friend. "So dear Gilly, what has gotten you so deep in thought lately?"

"Nothing! I'm still the king of awesome as always!"

Francis rolled his eyes. Always one to put up a front.

"I didn't know that nothing would captivate you so much that you would fail on a test in physical education. You're best subject even." Gilbert had been in the middle of a flying test when his powers short circuited and he had eaten a face full of gym flooring.

"Look, it's nothing to worry about. I just got distracted"

"Ohonhonohonhon! By who?" Francis was gloating now, he knew that Gilbert was going to let out a big secret now! Gilbert never said anything past being awesome if he didn't want to talk about it.

"Um….. Francis, can you keep a secret?"

"Of course! I still haven't told anyone about your pet chick Gilbird."

"Right well…" The albino scratched the back of his head. "W-what do you do when you like two different people?"

* * *

><p>In the Wang household, Koaru was sipping Jasmine tea, simply enjoying the mood that winter brought. On his bed, his brother Yong Soo was reading the latest Korean manga, giggling and gasping as he read. Every other resident of the Wang house was either sound asleep or out doing god knows what. Which was good because...<p>

**Bang bang bang** Someone was hammering against the front door.

"Hong Kong jerk! Open up! It's Romano!"

The two brothers sprinted to the door and unveiled a ragged looking Romano and a beaten up Matthew.

"Well don't just stand there, help me out! He's heavier than he looks!"

"Oh shut up Romano, I'm only 125 pounds." Matthew mumbled. Yong Soo helped Matthew stand up.

"What happened da~ze? !"

"Do you need medical attention?" Koaru asked. On closer inspection, Matthew's face was badly scraped and his hoodie was splotched with red. Blood.

"No, most of this isn't even my blood. I'm just bruised and exhausted." Yong Soo led Matthew to a chair and the blond promptly fell into it.

"Mind explaining why you gave us all a heart attack at 12 in the morning?" Romano snapped.

"Sure, ah! Hey Koaru! Easy on the disinfectant eh?" When had he pulled out a first aid kit? And when did Matt take off his hoodie?

"I had just gotten inside the dean's office when…"

* * *

><p><em>Matthew raced through the files looking for the name Serge. <em>

"_No, no no! Rgh! Where is he!" He closed the third cabinet drawer. This was getting annoying, five cabinets in and he hadn't found a single trace of this guy. Well that was the last filing cabinet, maybe one of the department heads had some info on this guy._

"_Looks like I have to try somewhere else." He moved out into the hall, keeping the holo computer open in case one of the alarms had a time set on it. Everything was going smoothly until about halfway into the villain's department._

_In one sudden burst all of the lights in the hallway were on, and Matthew stopped dead in his tracks. He could have sworn that his heart stopped beating for a full 30 seconds. _

"_Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting any students to be in school at this time."_

_The blond teen felt the entire world move in slow motion. Behind him, with a fist only millimetres away from his own face was General winter._

_Matthew swallowed, he could feel the heat coming off of the General's gloved hand. His heart was beating in his ears, deafening him. _

_Crap, he was screwed now. _

_The General slowly retracted his hand. _"_Sorry for the scare. But what are you doing in school so late? And with a quick hack like that?" This was weird, the General seemed to be in a good mood. He was actually smiling. _

_Uh oh, he's waiting for an answer. Lie, think up a lie quick!_

"_Just thought some payback was in order. My friends pulled a prank on me earlier, and I wanted to get back at them. This seemed like the best time to set it up. There lockers are just down there." He pointed in the direction where he was running. "I had my friend build this so I could get in without problems. Sorry bout that." _

"_Aha, no problem. I was just finishing up with some marking that I've been putting off. I'll keep the lights on until you're finished. After all, what kind of a villain department head would I be if I didn't let one or two students break in and set up a practical joke? Take your time." _

"_Thanks sir, I'll be done in a few minutes." Matthew took off down the hall, looking for Francis' locker. A simple egg trap, that would do. _

_Two minutes later and he was back down the same hallway. Walking this time as to not arouse any more unneeded suspicion. _

_Still standing in the same place, the General noted his arrival. "That was quick." _

"_Yeah. Thanks again Sir." Matthew gave a warm hearted smile. _

_Walking past the General, the older man placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him._

"_You do know you can come talk to me about anything. I may be the villain head, but I am also you're teacher. My door is always open," He opened his one good eye and stared directly into the blonds. "Matthew."_

_Matthew tensed. How did he know his name? No one except his best friends knew it. As far as he knew he was still invisible boy around here. Could he know something? No, he was over thinking. There was no way General Winter could figure out something from a 4 minute talk. Still, something was off._

"_Thanks Sir, but I better get going."_

"_Bye now. I'll see you at school after the holidays." _

* * *

><p>"So you met General Winter in school?"<p>

"Yeah, but something was off. Like he was waiting for me. He could have been in his office at any time during the holidays, but he was there right when I was."

"Odd." Koaru noted.

"Ok, but how did you get hurt da~ze?"

"Oh. I got chased by a bunch of thugs. And considering I wasn't Mr. Grim Reaper, I had to put on the weak guy routine and only beat them up a bit. Still I had to run halfway across town to get back here after those idiots chased me halfway across the city on my bike. Then some guard dog's came after me and i had to book it pretty fast. One of them almost got my throat, I thought I was a goner!"

Matthew scratched the back of his head sheepishly, and you could just see everyone else in the room sweat drop.

"Wait, so why'd you call me?" Romano asked.

"Well, I was exahused and I didn't know if I would be able to make it back to my house. So I wanted at least one person to have a way to track me if I dropped."

"Ah. Ok." Romano nodded. It would be just like that maple idiot to forego sleep until a job was done. He would be surprised if he had even eaten since their master had left. Maybe he should beat some sense into him later on.

Koaru looked deep in thougt. "General Winter. He does not seem like a man to be taken lightly. Keep watch, and do not trust him."

Matthew nodded at his friend. There was some kind of connection between him, Serge, Devil's Advocate and the General, he just couldn't see it yet.

* * *

><p>The General sat down at his home office, rereading the files on one Matthew Williams.<p>

If he wasn't so sure about his sources, he may have doubted that the boy even was the Grim Reaper. When he had snuck up on him earlier that night, Matthew had shown no signs of giving any secrets away and calmly answered all questions without blinking. He was quite the little actor.

"**Beep** General, the second phase is complete, we are ready to distribute the finished serum to you for usage on human subjects." A man reported from his computer.

"Very well, make sure to have a fast and undetectable way to administer it. I have the perfect subject to try it out on." Serge chuckled to himself. Mr. Williams had no idea what he was in for.

* * *

><p>Roooaar! Ok, so Mr Winter's got something in store for our poor canadian!<p>

And as a side note, everyone thinks of the general as this big burly guy wearing tons of furs, i kinda see him as this sleek, slim, clean business guy who could freeze you with a look. Kinda like seto kaiba, but when this guy smiles it kills 50 puppies, not just one XD and a lot more fashionable. Hope you enjoyed it! please review!


	14. Chapter 12 Rico Tomato!

I apologies for not getting this up sooner, but I hit a bit of a blockade, along with a project that i still haven't finished, so i thought it best to finish one sub plot and get back to the main story line next chapter... Massive thanks to everyone who reviewed, faved, added and so on, as well as told me about mistakes! As a side note i will be starting my last year of school soon, but i should still be posting regularly!

* * *

><p>Ch.12 Rico Tomato~!<p>

New Year's eve:

"**Whack** Higher!

"**Wham **Faster! Da~ze"

" **S****mack **Are you even listening Matt?"

" **Wham!** Better!" Yong Soo instructed Matthew. For the last two days, all four of them had been training like mad. Koaru had began to instruct them all in the basic skills in hacking, Yong Soo was teaching them martial arts, Romano was explaining how the mafia and underground scenes worked, and Matthew filled in everything else.

Right now it was Muy Thai, and Matthew was two minutes from dropping dead. Yong Soo was relentless with training! It was almost worse than when Tomas was his teacher. His legs were killing him and he could have sworn he was sweating blood.

"Stop slacking Da~ze! You can do better than that!"

"Yong Soo! You slave driver damn it! Let him rest! You've been pushing us non stop!" Romano yelled across the training room. Both he and Koaru were sitting on a side bench, holding packs of ice to various sore body parts. "You're going to kill one of us soon you boob grouping bastard!"

"You do realize brother, that we are not used to training 20 hours of the day." Koaru mumbled behind an ice pack.

"Oh come on you two! Matthew is fine and he's been working twice as long as you guys have da ze~!"

**Thud!** Matthew was now on the floor, passed out from exhaustion.

Romano smacked Yong Soo upside his head. "SEE! I told you, you're pushing him too far!"

* * *

><p>Matthew woke up a few hours later, a cold washcloth placed on his eyes. Sitting up, he noticed he was the only one in the room.<p>

"Koaru and Yong Soo left to go celebrate new years with their family." Romano walked in, munching on a bit of Christmas Fudge, Kumajirou was nibbling on his own piece. Really his friends were going to make his pet fat. Er, fatter.

"Thanks Romano, you going out tonight?" Matthew layed down, the cool cloth against his eyes felt great.

"Nah, everyone acts like idiots around tonight."

The two sat in silence for a while.

"So when were you going to tell me that you were crushing hard on Antonio?"

Romano turned, "H- HOW DID YOU KNOW?"

"The only thing that would make it more obvious, was if you had a sign around your neck saying 'Hopelessly in love: Please Feed me.'" Matthew

Romano just stared at Matthew. "Was it really that bad?"

"Hopelessly, heart wrenchingly, vomit inducingly evident." The blond chided.

Romano pulled his legs up to his chest.

"Why are you so scared of love Romano? I know you well enough to know that you're nothing but passion and fire. So why are you pushing him away?"

"I-I-I" Romano was as red as a tomato at this point. The words just weren't coming out!

"Ah." Matthew smirked. "You're afraid of the prospect of him hurting you or what could happen if you two ever broke up."

"S-STOP THAT MIND READING BIT!" The Italian slammed a massive pillow into his friends face. "It freaks me out."

"Mhmn~ You didn't deny it." The blonds smile grew.

Romano just hugged his legs closer. Stupid Maple bastard figured him out, but that Tomato idiot couldn't?. !

Matthew groaned. "Romano-" He was reminded of the first time he met his hot tempered friend. The wrong words would only agitate the Italian, not get his butt in gear. "This guy's been asking you out for years. If he's taken your verbal and physical abuse for so long, I think he's damn serious of making you two last for as long as possible."

Romano looked like he was mulling it over.

"Besides if you don't say yes, someone else might take him."

**Click** That did it. Romano bolted upright, grabbed a scarf from Matthews coatrack and headed out the front door.

Then ran back inside, and slid back into the living room, "Where is he?"

"He's apparently looking pathetic, staring longingly at his phone by the fountain in the city square. " Matthew turned to face Romano, "Francis put it as Antonio's Face Crack status."

"Thanks!" Romano was gone in two seconds flat.

* * *

><p>Antonio stared at his phone, the led screen staring up at him. Romano's grandfather said he wasn't home, and he didn't know his cell number, so his plans of sweeping Romano off his feet on New Years day were shot down. The Spaniard felt like crying, his one true love was MIA on one of the most romantic days of the year! And he still couldn't figure out why he didn't want to go out with him! The two had known each other for years! Sure Antonio thought he was a brat at first, but after a while, he just recognized that it was just his way of showing his affection. He really truly loved him. Why couldn't the other see that?<p>

The brunet was just about to get up and drown his sorrows in liqueur, ice cream and reality tv, when he heard someone call his name.

"ANTONIO!"

He turned to find a winded Romano, leaning on his knees, gasping for air.

"Romano?"

"Y-You still up for that date?" He gasped out.

You could have sworn Antonio could have exploded from happiness. Without warning, the Spaniard raced to where Romano was, picked him up and spun him around, laughing all the time.

"Lovi Lovi~! You really mean it? !"

"Ah-! Yes! Just stop spinning me!"

"Opps! Sorry Lovi!" Antonio placed him down and gave the younger a blinding grin.

"Lovi?" Romano asked.

"It's my nick name for you! That ok?"

Romano blushed, "It's fine tomato bastard."

"Aw~! You're blushing Lovi! Just like a tomato!" Antonio nuzzled his date, on cloud nine just being near the boy.

"Sh-SHUT UP TOMATO JERK!" Romano blushed even harder, but made no move to push the Spaniard away. The two young men made their way into the square, holding hands.

* * *

><p>Matthew layed on his couch, content with the world, glad that one of his best friend was finally being somewhat honest with himself. He was just about to go to sleep when…<p>

"Oh crap my bike!"

* * *

><p>Two days later and he remembers XD. Well, hope this wraps up Romano's sub plot nicely, reviews are liked, and thank you for reading thus far! we get back into the main plot next chapter, which will be posted before my birthday (before september starts, ill give you that XD)<p> 


	15. Chapter 13 A Little Vial of Poison

You guys can kill me now, but i haven't had a working Word program for a few weeks and school and such.

Anyway, here you go, enjoy! Please review and i dont own Hetaila blah blah blah. Oh, and the world IS a small world. apparantly someone in my town reads this! Enjoy! (and by the way, I'm super sorry for all the typos, but I usually post these at like 3 so I'm not exactly awake) PS something big happens here but theres a twist to it! Try to find out what it is!

And as a side note, Is it Yekatarina or Katayusha (Sp pending)? i cant tell which one's right. and i may need someone who knows french, i dont trust online converters

* * *

><p>Ch. 13 A Little Vial of Poison<p>

School hit hard and fast. It was weird how only a few weeks of relaxing could make you forget your locker combination. (Which Matt had done, twice in the last hour. He was derping hard core.)

Francis was hit with a rather unpleasant surprise when he found half a dozen rotten eggs come flying out of his locker and careen into his face. Matthew was behind a post not too far from his cousins locker, holding his sides trying not to die of bottled up laughter.

Once school had started however, the world around Matthew seemed to be spinning way too fast. Yong Soo was pushing all 3 of them to the edge and over, homework had doubled (when did that happen?) and Matthew had began to patrol again at night.

Soon it became apparent that the only time that the blond could sleep was in the 3 hours before school and the 5 hours in said building. Now his grades were suffering, along with his sleep pattern.

Another unwanted side effect was the threat of fainting due to exhaustion, again.

Matthew was waiting by Yong Soo's locker, shifting his shoulder bag that felt 30 times heavier than it did when he went out the door. For some reason, his eyes would not stay open. They felt stuck at half-mast like a locked garage door. The florescent lights were screaming at him, and his feet felt less and less reliable with each passing second.

"You ok Matt?" Yong Soo asked, looking up from digging around in his locker.

"Y-yeah-" Matthew was leaning too far to the right, he toppled over and straight into an upperclassman's arms.

* * *

><p>Gilbert was walking down to his next class, laughing at Francis' misfortune.<p>

"I swear it was zat Englishman! Who else could have done zat during winter break?"

"Calm down mi amigo~! It wasn't a big deal." Antonio was way too mellow now that he was getting some from that Italian boy.

"Yeah, it was probably just some cocky 10th grader trying to look cool. Don't let it get to you. " Gilbert replied. His chick, Gilbird (most awesome name in existence, look it up) started to cheep loudly. A young girl was just about to fall straight into his chest!

Or he thought it was a girl. There in his arms was a dazed Matthew Williams.

"Hey! Watch where you're going, I know I'm irresistible, but don't go and fall for me literally." Gilbert quipped, holding the younger up around the waist. The albino felt heat spread throughout his cheekbones. Damnit this kid was good! Had he planed this stunt? He must have! It was all a ploy to catch Gilbert off guard!

Matthew rubbed his eyes, his glasses moving up and out of his face, a red oversized hoodie making him look twice as small as he was. His golden hair lightly falling over his teary indigo eyes. A light flush went down his cheeks to his neck.

"S-sorry" The blond mumbled out.

Gilbert exploded in a mass of feathers. The sight was too much, too cute! He had lost control of his powers and now the entire third floor west hallway was covered in silver and light yellow down feathers.

"Ah!" The dazed teen, who was closest to poor Gilly at the time, was spitting out mouthfuls of feathers. Matthew was now more than confused, one minute he's in the hallway, the next he was eating a small bird.

"Opps." Gilbert mumbled out. He was trying to not explode again. He had a cute blond in his arms, now looking five times as cute with down feathers decorating his hair and face.

"Oh my! Looks like Mr. Bedishmit had a bit of an accident."

General Winter appeared from the mass of feathers, looking quite amused.

"Bonjour sir~" Francis greeted. Antonio gave an affectionate "Hola." The General nodded at them before turning his attention to Gilbert, giving a smile to Matthew.

Gilbert looked like something was crawling up his leg. "H-hi sir!" he stuttered.

"Hmn, it seems you may need some more control homework, Gilbert." The General placed a hand on Matthews shoulder, "And I do believe you should take Mr. Williams to the infirmary Mr. Im" General Winter helped keep Matthew steady, keeping a firm hand on his shoulder.

"R-Right." Yong-Soo, led Matthew down to the nurses room, leaving a distraught Gilbert with a cold General and two laughing friends. Some friends. Oh who was he kidding, he would have laughed at them if they were getting told off by old man Winter's too.

* * *

><p>The nurse's office was full of things that most normal schools wouldn't have. Everything from first aid to a surgical area. A full busted nurse greeted Matthew and Yong Soo. "Matvey? Back again so soon?" She gave Matthew an anxious look. Matthew liked this nurse; she actually saw him and she always let him take the day off if things were stressful. Due to numerous broken bones and mix-ups in gym, the nurses' office was old hat for the poor Canadian. Miss Braginski was sort of like a big sister at this point.<p>

"Hi! Da ze~ I'm Im Yong Soo. He collapsed in the halls. Got anything for him?"

"O-oh dear! Are you feeling alright?" Miss Braginski asked, holding a hand against his forehead.

"I'm j-just really tired. **Yawn.** I h-haven't been getting much sleep lately and school's just adding stress."

"Hmn, I think I have just the thing!" Miss Braginski began to rummage around the room. She came back with a long looking needle and a vial of red liquid. "This is a new serum to help with exhaustion. It should help you for now."

Yong Soo and Matthew exchanged a look. This did not bode well. If he couldn't eat something from the cafeteria without acting like he downed 20 red bulls in half an hour, how would this affect him?

Miss Braginski looked back and gave them both a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, the General himself created this, and it's fine for even normal humans. Hold out your wrist, please."

"Cures were made in Korea da~ze!" Yong Soo giggled from his spot on the medical bed beside Matthew. Matthew was having more doubts, something about a cure made from a former super villain put his 'Danger' senses on high alert. But he still outstretched his arm and gave Miss Braginski a wrist.

The needle passed through his skin with practiced ease, and the serum was dumped in his system. The effect was immediate.

Matthew felt electric currents rocket up his arm and all around his body. It wasn't painful exactly, just weird. His stomach was doing weird flips and his hands were set on 'Vibrate'.

"The serum may have some side effects, so you should drink a lot of water and get some rest. No matter how good a cure is, you still need to sleep." Miss Braginski handed Matthew a glass of water. "Perhaps you should take the day off too, just in case."

"Th-Thank you Miss Braginski." Matthew replied as he jumped off the table.

"No trouble, and come by anytime you like Matvey." She waved them off and Matthew turned to make his way home.

The entire walk home Matthew was feeling fine, great even! Once he walked through his door, he still felt fine. Then he took a step forward and collapsed on his side. Coughing and hacking, Matthew felt nausea and bile rise in his throat. It didn't stop there though. The same electricity from before came back, but ten times worse. Painfully, energy ran through his nerves, hitting every muscle, making them twitch.

Matthew pulled out his phone, fully intent on pressing 9-1-1, but the buttons were all blurring together, and all he managed to do was push the LED screen. Matthew soon threw the phone by his side, preferring to curl up in the foetal position. Lights and sounds were bombarding his pain overridden mind, making it impossible to think much less tell someone else what was happening to him.

Staggering, he got himself to the bathroom as his stomach brought up everything he had eaten for breakfast. He stayed there for a few minutes before Kumajirou came and snuggled up to his side by the toilet. The sick Canadian shakily hugged Kuma.

Matthew had never wanted to snuggle with Kuma more. The bear was security wrapped up in fluff. All he wanted to do was burry his face in Kuma's fuzz and cry.

For the first time in years, Matthew felt like a child again. He wanted to call for his mother, his cousins, SOMEBODY to take the pain away. Tears streamed down his face as he sobbed, crying out.

"Papa! Please! Help!** Hic"**

"Arthur!" **Sob**

The blond laid his head against his forearms on the toilet seat. "Al…" he whispered.

Matthew felt his stomach convulse again and he leaned over the toilet again. Once he brought his head up, it was clear that whatever General Winter's made, was NOT working. He would have put more thought into this new, if not obvious, revelation, had he not been face down in a toilet.

40 minutes later after he had cleaned up and feeling like his insides would stay put, he called his friends, asking them to get his homework and to not call Tomas. He could deal with this himself. The worst seemed to have passed and he would go from there.

Matthew rotated his wrist, made a fist, relaxed his hand, and clenched his hand again. What had General Winter done?

He could still feel electricity coursing through him, running up and down his body. Eating him out from the inside.

Another wave of nausea hit Matthew hard, he leaned over the side of the bed, retching. His stomach had been emptied long ago, so he was just dry heaving now. It was painful. _This_ was painful. What the hell was in that vial?

Gulping air, Matthew stayed leaning over the side of the bed.

Matthew didn't raise his head, he felt like shit.

Minutes passed and Matthew finally deemed it ok to sit back up into bed.

Everything in his sight swam and stilled. Lines became liquid then razor sharp. Colours turned from dull pastels to vibrant neons.

A burning sensation traveled up his spine and settled behind his eyes. The blond screamed; the pain was just too much. It only lasted a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity to him. The burning was replaced with freezing, then electricity. Onslaught after onslaught of pain, altogether only 30 seconds. Matthew kept screaming with a hand over his mouth, a flimsy barrier for the sound. He blacked out just as the pain stopped.

* * *

><p><em>A giggling child ran up to his older cousin, his pet polar bear running beside him. "Brother Francis!" Matthew hugged the older boys legs, never wanting to let go.<em>

_"Oho, mon cher~! You know you can call me Papa~!" Francis leaned down and ruffled Matthew's blond curls._

_"But you aren't my papa!" Matthew stated._

_Francis leaned down to Matthew's level and smiled. "But I will be looking after you for a while, so you can call me Papa! Now lets go, Mama will be wondering where we went!" Francis was reffering to his own mother. Ever since Matthew's parents had passed away, he and his mother had been looking after him. _

_"Oui Papa!" Matthew smiled and took Francis' hand as the walked towards the two story house. _

_He wished things could stay like this forever..._

_But nothing lasts forever._

* * *

><p>Matthew woke up to sun hitting his eyes. His internal clock registered he was asleep for about 11 hours. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he noticed that the pain was gone, however he felt super dehydrated.<p>

Dragging his feet downstairs, the telltale feeling of stiff joints told him his little escapade yesterday afternoon was not a dream.

Matthew stopped on his way downstairs. Dream... He had one last night...It was a good one too. A day that he wish he could repeat again.

Twenty glasses of water later, he was feeling relatively back to normal. Shuffling around the house, Matthew made his way to his bathroom, fully intent on seeing if he looked like he felt. And maybe taking a shower too.

Matthew cracked his neck and glanced in the mirror.

What he saw made him stop dead. The glass in his hand slipping from his grip and crashing to the tile, water splashing his feet.

"Oh...My..God."

Staring back at him was not purple eyes and blond curls, but ruby eyes and silver hair.

He did not look like Matthew Williams.

He looked like Gilbert Bedishmit.


	16. Chapter 14 Well, I'm Boned

Ok! Im super sorry for not updating sooner! Augh! sorry! But schools been a massive hedgehog in the prostate and my brain was blanking on this chapter for a while. Got it now and its technically the end of the week XD sorry. hope you guys like it and it passes the grammar test!

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><p>Ch.14 We'll, I'm Boned<p>

Matthew blinked, Gilbert blinked back in the mirror. Matthew stuck his tongue out, so did Gilbert. Matthew made a funny face, Gilbert did too. There was no denying it. Matthew looked exactly like Gilbert.

How can someone go to bed in their own body, and wake up in another's? It was impossible!

Matthew leaned foreword so his forehead was touching the mirror, "This is not happening. This is NOT HAPPENING." Woah, he even sounded like Gilbert.

A dream, this _had _to be a dream. If he just opened his eyes he would find himself back in his bed, tangled in the covers. Ok, one, two, THREE!

Red eyes stared back.

…. "Arthur will _freak! _He can't even handle one Gilbert!", Matthew half screamed.

Pins and needles lightly ran up his arms and legs, and Matthew had the strange feeling that someone was watching him. Taking a swift look behind him, nothing there, Matthew turned back to the mirror and jumped.

Green eyes, with massive eyebrows stared back.

...

How the hell did **_that _**happen? One minute he looks like an albino with a personality complex, the next he looks like his Anglican cousin with a fetish for magic.

Matthew pulled at Ar-well _his- _cheek hard enough to tear up. Yep the skin was stuck on his face.

Out of the corner of his eye, Matthew saw something glowing a bring pink.

This was just getting too weird. There was a pink, flying, mini…. _Thing_ staring back at him. The blond gave a small apprehensive wave to it. It just giggled and waved back.

Matthew sighed and put his weight on his hands, leaning against the sink. He was SO calling in sick today.

* * *

><p>It was lunch before Romano got a text from their MIA friend.<p>

_Sick. You guys patrol tonight. _

_Stealth gear n weapons r in yur rooms._

_-Matt._

* * *

><p>35 minutes of staring at the mirror, Matthew figured out what was happening.<p>

Mimicry was a rare ability, so how in the name of the bloody NHL did he suddenly get it? Abilities come out during puberty or earlier, and Matthew was _lo-ng_ past it.

If he thought hard enough he could turn into any guy. Women were harder but he (sorta?) could pull it off. Minus the boobs and add an squarer jaw. Ms. Braginski looked a lot like her brother as a male. Huh.

There was now a medium sized hole in his bathroom from throwing stuff at a flying blue pony. He was beginning to think that his cousin was indeed insane if he could take all these things staring at him in stride.

He had at least come to one decision today. There was no way in friggen hell he was going outside the house. Especially if just THINKING of someone turned him into their doppelganger.

Poor Kuma almost had a heart attack when he wandered into the bathroom to check up on his sick master. Matthew was right in the middle of changing from Carlos to General Winter. It took 20 minutes to calm the cub down.

Matthew was getting a headache from his body switching so much. How did the big shots at the top of the school manage to do this? He was switching ablilites like girls switch outfits and his body was heating up from his atomic structure constantly shifting.

One more try at flying,' Matthew thought as he turned back into Gilbert. He had been trying everyone's powers out and the only two he couldn't seem to mirror was Gilbert flying and whatever the hell Winter's did.

He-hey! He was doing it! Only 5 inches off the ground but he was God Damn FLYING!

And just like that, his butt made friends with the ground as smexy 17 year old albino body turned back into the Canadian we all know and love.

"Oof!"

Matthew tried thinking of everyone he turned into that morning, but he stayed the same.

Yep, sporadic abilities, exactly what he was expecting in the morning. It had to be Thursday, he could never get his head around Thursdays.

* * *

><p>Matthew sat Indian style on his bed, his laptop in front of him. He had closed the curtains and basically locked up the house. Kuma was at the foot of the bed, sleeping like a baby.<p>

Today had been in a nutshell, trippin balls freaky. For 2 hours he swaps bodies with everyone he knows, the next he's back to plain old Mattie.

Online there wasn't much about this. No one had ever documented gaining powers than loosing them in such a small timeframe. Although there was a lot of information about some big name heroes being out of commission for a while now.

It wasn't unheard of for Metas to loose their powers, but so many? And so close together? It didn't sit right.

These weren't the _really_ big heroes or villains, but their absence was noticeable. One of them caught Matthew's eye.

He had lost his powers a month ago, and has been in hiding ever since. He was a mimicker.

A coincidence? Matthew _really_ hoped so. But right now he needed to be sure. General Winter still owned a pharmaceutical company that was selling vaccines, he was the first person to check out right now.

58 minutes later and Matthew was as lost as ever. The website didn't give him much. Not enough anyway. Just some hints at cure all drugs that were obviously addictive. Matthew sighed. He was dreading this. One email later and his night were set. Now where were his hooker boots?

* * *

><p>Downtown was fun at night. If your brand of fun was breaking 10 laws in the span of 4 hours.<p>

Matthew felt ridiculous. He was wearing a pair of shorts that barely constituted as underwear, stripped thigh high socks, heavy boots, and a white hoodie (hood up). What he did for information.

He was meeting up with Jack out here. His one connection to the underground that he trusted. The stupid Aussie liked to set up meetings in the worst places.

Matthew turned a corner and went down an alley. On the other side was a young man in dark jeans, a tan leather vest with a fedora on top of his shaggy brown hair. He turned and noticed Matt walking towards him.

"Sorry little lady, but I'm not up for a date."

Matthew flushed a dark red, "It's me you moron." He pulled back his hood.

"Mattie? Well now, didn't think you were for the drag scene." Jack smirked.

"Quiet you." He leaned against the brick wall, glancing at the Aussie.

"So what do you need from dear ol' Jack?"

"General Winter. What do you know?"

"Mn~ Not too much bout him going round lately. He's been lying low. It's been weird. Usually you hear something about some drug ring or the students at Hetalia going a bit overboard, but nothings come round much. Just him and his pharmaceutical company making the headlines. Need the rest of the world to believe he's still doing good thing I guess. He's been known for doing stuff by the sly so I'd keep my ears open at all times if I were you."

"Anything else?"

"Nothing much. There's been a lot of movement from Serge, but you already know bout that. And… yeah, not much else. Except…."

"What?"

"You've heard about the meta's that lost their powers right?"

"Yeah."

"It's only rumors on the wind, but there're people who say that someone locked their abilities away. Almost stole them."

Matthew felt like throwing up.

"You ok Mate? Don't look too hot."

"Fine. I'm fine." Matthew forced it out.

"But like I said, it's just rumors. I'll let you know if anything more concrete comes up."

"Thanks Jack. What I owe you?", Matthew knew Jack would either want two things. 1 Go drinking and let Matthew pay for it. Or 2, Matthew to make him pancakes for a week or so.

"Mn, I think just a good meal is fine." Jack replied after a few seconds.

"Where do you suggest?" It was 2 am. No way he was baking at this hour.

"I hear an all night breakfast place a few blocks away is good."

"Did you really just drag me out here so we could have waffles and bacon at 2:15 in the morning?"

"Yep." He gave Matt a massive grin.

"You're going to wake up with ground beef stuffed in your ears you know that right?"

"So~o worth it though."

* * *

><p>After a very early breakfast, Matthew sent out a mass text to his friends.<p>

This had to be a Thursday.

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><p>Aha! 30000 internet points for the latest references, and take a guess at what really happened w Mattie, heres a hint: It's not evident. XD hope you guys like it!


	17. Chapter 15 Date? ME?

Augh! sorry! time moved way too fast! And this stupid sideplot was stupidly hard to get going. But it's here none the less. And i just realized i had a beta set up, and im super sorry for not remembering! (that and right now i have no idea how to work it!) THANKYOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS FAVED, COMMENTED AND WATCHED! (seriously, i had no idea how big this would get)

Anyway, side plot to break up the tense action away! (why has my line button suddenly disappeared?)

:

ch. 15 Date? ME?

Gilbert had no idea his French friend could be so scary.

"You…WHAT?" The glass of Merlot in his hand was beginning to crack.

"I, uh, like Mattie?"

The glass shattered. "That's what I though."

"F-Francis?" His Parisian friend was emitting an aura dark enough to rival Ivan's

"_Hehehehe. It'll be a cold day in hell when I allow anyone to lay a hand on my Mathieu." _ He loomed towards the albino. An evil gleam in his eye.

"F-Francis, n-now wait a mi-minute" Stop the small talk Gilbert, RUN! "A-ANTONIO! HE~LP!"

BOOM!

:

"Ah, that was a bit harsh Francis." Antonio had finally pulled Francis off Gilbert. After a black eye, 3 bruised ribs and a pair of de feathered birds. (Pier tried to take on Gilbird.)

"Hmph! Zat was not enough! Not if he thinks that he is worthy enough for my Mathieu!" Francis waved his hand like he was swatting a fly. "Mathieu is far above anyone who just wants him for 'is looks! Zere is no way I would let you!"

Gilbert sighed, "Look. What's it going to take to show you I'm serious about dating him?" Was it really that hard to believe that he wanted a relationship with Francis' angel of a cousin?

Francis thought for a few moments. What would it take for him to let anyone, especially Gilbert, date his adorable little cousin? Gilbert _had_ been quite enamored with young Mathieu for a while now; he had stopped looking for overnight conquests almost 12 weeks ago, and had become a sighing, stuttering, 'dreamy-look' mess of a man.

He was showing all the signs of falling head over heels.

Which meant there was only one real test to show if Gilbert was serious.

"Survive a date with Mathieu." Francis replied.

Gilbert blinked, "Is that all?"

Francis nodded. Gilbert broke out into a massive grin, "Hell if that's all it takes, I'm gonna show him the time of his awesome life! Wait for me Mattie!" Gilbert ran upstairs and out Francis' front door, more than likely set on planning his perfect proposal to Matthew.

"Mi amigo, are you sure that that is enough?" Antonio was surprised that Francis let Gilbert off the hook so easily.

The Parisian chuckled darkly. "I said he has to _survive _a date with Mathieu."

"What, is Matt a really bad date?"

"Non! Far from it! However, it wont be as easy when myself and my cousins are trailing him." Francis started giggling again while texting his cousins.

Antonio vaguely wonders if he should warn Gilbert, until he realizes, it's going to be funny as all hell to see Gilbert pitted against all three of them.

Where's the popcorn?

:The next day:

Matthew had been pulled from duty for a month. Tomas and the others thought it would be better if he rested first, then figured out what was going on. Romano, Yong-Soo and Koaru would take over patrolling, while Fin would help Koaru research.

Matthew knew this was probably for the best. The others would get some field experience and he would stop becoming a wing nut. He was getting better sleep and his bruises finally had time to heal.

His friends seemed to have things under control, one would patrol one night than get the next two days off. He really should have thought of that sooner. Man he felt stupid.

Walking up to his locker, Matthew's foot slipped on a glossy magazine. Wait, not a magazine. One of those comic books that that Kiku kept making. Matthew bent down and picked up the comic. Right then he should have put it back down. The cover bore the title 'Rooftop Flight' in curvy handwriting, with a (rather amazing) drawing of Alfred in his hero costume and, wait- was that him?

Technically it was Grim Reaper but it was still him none the less! For a few seconds, Matthew felt a slight sense of pride and honor that someone had written a comic about him.

He began flipping through the pages, not really reading the text. Yeah, that definitely was his costume. But at least Kiku, and anyone else who knew him, didn't know who Grim Reaper was.

Staring back from under the hood on the 5th page was a tall, lanky sex god. Long black hair coupled with sharp gray eyes, tapered fingers and a sharp jaw.

If only reality reflected fantasy.

In his locker mirror, Matthew quickly compared. Semi tall, doe eyes, baby faced and curly strawberry blond hair. An uke vs a sex god, huh. Not hard to imagine what he would rather be.

That feeling of semi pride quickly fled once he had flipped through the comic halfway.

H-holy crap! Was that position even _possible?_ Oh lord, Matthew really didn't want to find out. There, in black, white and grayscale was his cousin and-well-_HIM_ having full out sex on a rooftop! Who the hell thought _that _was a good pairing! And who said that _he _would bottom!

Feeling slightly nauseous at the thought of copulating with his COUSIN, Matthew promptly threw the thing in his locker, slammed it shut and began praying to any higher being that he knew (or thought up) that his cousin, or anyone else, had not seen this.

During his little freak out, Matthew failed to notice a tall Prussian stalk up behind him until his shadow eclipsed the hallways fluorescent lights. The blond spun around to be face to face with a slightly embarrassed looking albino.

"**Cough** Um, h-hi Mattie!"

"H- hi Gil…" Oh god, had he found the comic? Had he figured out who he was?

"Listen, I know this is putting you on the spot and I don't mean to make you feel awkward but," In one fluid motion, Gilbert pulled a sizeable bouque from behind his back. "Will you go out with me this Saturday?"

"Eh? !"

:

Alfred though he was ok with this, but he wasn't. He knew he said that Mattie dating a villain was ok, he knew it was his brothers choice who he would date, but he would be damned if he let his brother go out with that Pussian! There was no doubt that he would try to rape poor little Mattie if given the chance!

It could be worse; his brother could be going with Carlos. That Cuban bastard was always giving his brother weird looks. And really, there was no reason why he had defected to the evil side.

Or even Ivan. Ugh, that would be the worst! He was getting chills just thinking about it. Ivan was creeping around his cute little brother more often now. Maybe he should destroy part of the villains wing. Wait, no that's totally un-heroic!

What was with his brother being a magnet for the evil guys? Maybe its because his brother looks like he has the words 'MOLEST ME' taped to his back. Well it's not like the Heroes were any better. There was the Dutch dude. He would definitely be a bad influence on Matthew. What if he got the cute little Canadian into drugs! Or that axe guy from Denmark! He probably would force Mattie into stuff! Augh! Why were the guys in his school all bad influences on his brother?

He, Arthur and Francis may disagree on a lot, (everything) but at least they came to the same conclusion. No one would be worthy enough to date Mattie.

Probably the only person he would allow Mattie to date would be himself, but lets not make this weird.

Which is why he was going to talk some sense into his brother, and _beat_ some sense into that Albino bastard.

:

He had said yes! Cute little cherub Mattie had said yes! Gilbert's day really couldn't get much better! Now all he had to do was make sure the date went as smooth as possible. See? He didn't need Francis' help! He could woo the love of his high school life just fine!

At the moment, Gilbert was in his room, hugging his oversized chick push and twirling like he was on a caffeine high.

It wasn't until a chirp from Gilbird brought him down to earth.

"Cheep!"

Gilbert was still smiling, "I don't know what we're gonna do …. CRAP!" Maybe he needed Francis' help after all.

:

Well? good bad? get back to the action you twit? Hope you guys liked it! (and this really dosen't change much of the plot i had planned but it does bring in Gil more so thats a plus XD Review please! Tell me how I'm doing. And seriously, where did my line button go?


	18. Chapter 16 Turning Point

My magic line button is back! Alright, all I can say is time went too fast. But Thank You SO FREAKING MUCH FOR 100 Reviews! id say i would make a Fic for whoever put the 100th review up but they were anon so i have no way to contact you. (sob) But hope you like it! SUPPER FREAKING SORRY FOR THE WAIT! The next two chapters will be up by Saturday.

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><p>Ch. 16 Turning Point.<p>

He had said yes. Matthew Williams had just agreed to a date with one Gilbert Bedishmit. WHY had he done THAT? !

A lapse in judgment? Temporary insanity? A sudden need to force all of his cousins to have aneurisms? That last one might be the most correct.

Tonight was his date, and Matthew was a nervous wreck. He had never been on a date, mainly due to his invisibility, and he had no idea where to go for information.

Romano was out, he barely knew what a normal date was. There was no goddamn way he was going to go to his cousins. Francis was a good role model for romance, but Francis would kill Gilbert if he knew that Matthew was going on a date with him. Arthur was completely inept at love, and Alfred? Ha ha, good joke.

The only person that he could count on was Yong Soo. Yep. The reason being? He was the only friend he knew that watched love dramas. Yeah so it wasn't much to go by but he was a teen with absolutely no experience with love and everyone else was out of the picture.

Which was why Matthew was inside Yong Soo's house, trying on every shred of male clothing his sister had.

"Young Soo, I'm happy that you're helping me out, but did you have to bring your sister in on this?" Said sister, Meimei, was circling Matthew like a hawk. She kept making him try on outfits then take them off, then on, then off again.

"Because da~ze! Meimei has the best fashion sense!"

"Hold still!" Meimei snapped. The brunet pulled out another pair of skinny jeans and held them up against Matthew.

"Ah! S-sorry!" Matthew stammered.

"I can't believe you were going to go on a first date wearing that tacky hoodie!" Damn, she was worse than Francis. "Thank God you came to me!" She pushed Matthew back behind a changing screen.

Maybe he should have talked to Arthur instead.

* * *

><p>Gilbert was prepared. After a mild cardiac arrest, the silvret had come up with the best idea. Skating! The rink downtown was perfect for a first date, and afterwards they could go to that café right across the street.<p>

Antonio had been acting weird lately though, he kept glancing at Gilbert and giggling once in a while. That wouldn't be any different from any other day except for the fact that Antonio had stopped Gilbert from going out door for a minute to say 'Good luck and try to protect you vital regions.'

The albino jumped up the steps to Matthew's house, rang the doorbell and waited.

When Matthew answered the door, Gilbert forgot how to breathe.

Matthew felt like an idiot. He had let Meimei dress him up like a doll, skinny jeans, horn rim glasses, t-shirt, jacket, and scarf. One look in the mirror was all it took for the blond to call himself badly dressed. From the look on Gilbert's face, he must think so too.

Last time he went to Young-Soo for love advice.

"Hey." Matthew closed the door behind him. (Kumajunjirou was with Young-Soo, lets hope he didn't gain fifteen pounds while there)

"Hi."

"So, um, what did you have in mind?"

"I'll tell you when we get there." Gilbert said slyly, opening up the passenger door of his car for Matthew.

* * *

><p>"Ice skating?"<p>

"Yeah!" Gilbert flashed a massive grin. "Francis told me that you liked to skate when you were younger." The silvret passed Matthew a pair of skates. Neither noticed 3 people glaring at the Prussian from behind a fake plant.

Once out on the ice, Gilbert was beginning to think they should have gone to a movie. Only three minutes after stepping on what felt like waxed laminate, Gilbert had fallen down 5 times.

Matthew gracefully glided up beside him. "A-are you ok?", he held out a hand to help him up.

"Yep!", Gilbert grasped Matthews's hand and pulled himself back on his feet. "Just getting used to thi- Ah!" he was cut off as Gilbert once again fell on his butt to the ground.

* * *

><p>"You cursed his skates?" Alfred asked the Brit. At this point the three cousins had staked out a spot in the arena stands.<p>

"Yes you daft git! Now shut up, I need to concentrate."

Really Francis was being no help, he was just going off once in a while to chat up with some twit or another, and this was all _his_ idea. Alfred was even worse. Arthur was half expecting him to jump up and sock Gilbert right in his face. Luckily all that he'd done so far is crush the bleacher so that the seat would permanently have indents of his hands.

It was actually quite fun though, to make someone trip time after time. Cathartic even.

This went on for at least twenty minute, (Gilbert trying to coolly refuse any help from Matthew and make it look like he knew what he was doing) until Matthew finally helped Gilbert stay upright.

Arthur's eye twitched. That just wouldn't do.

Once more, Gilbert landed his bruised bottom on the ice. This time dragging Matthew down with him.

The Brit thought he had done it! Matthew would storm off, never speak to Gilbert again and that would be the end of the matter.

Unfortunately the tinkling of laughter from both Matthew and Gilbert squashed that theory quite soundly.

"You idiot! Zat did not work!" Francis hit Arthur upside the head. They were supposed to pull those two apart, not push them together!

"Look I'm trying here! I don't see you doing anything useful!"

"Wait! They're leaving!" Alfred was right. The two young teens were making their way off the rink.

"C'mon! We need to follow them!"

* * *

><p>Gilbert had brought Matthew to a little coffee shop down the street. It was quiet and a perfect place to end a date. Although for the last hour or so, he had been getting the feeling that they were being watched.<p>

No lie! Ever since his coffee inexplicably turned into boiling liquid Gilbert was suspecting that someone was sabotaging his date.

Don't believe him? In the past 15 minutes alone, he's had hot drinks poured down his lap 3 times, his toes stepped on 5 and accidentally landed face first into the table a whopping 12 times.

Gilbert looked around. The only people in the place was him, Matthew, the barista, a few middle age couples, some 20 some year olds trying to look important by typing on a computer while actually playing Minecraft, and Matthew's cousins.

Oh.

Well that explained a lot. To be honest he didn't put it past Alfred and Arthur to pull this sort of shit. Although Francis being in on this was a bit of a blow to his friendship pride. (Then again, what did he expect? Matthew was like a surrogate son to him.)

Now he knew what was going on, the only problem was how to deal with them. Hmn…

Unfortunately Gilbert could not finish that thought due to a super powered fist connecting with his cheekbone.

And just like that, Gilbert was flown across the room by Alfred.

The entire café erupted in chaos. Part time workers ducked under the counter, patrons ran outside.

"ALFRED!" Matthew stood up, grabbing his cousin's arm. "What the hell are you doing here!"

"That bloody idiot!" Just like Alfred to do something stupid and ruin the whole plan!

"Sorry bro, but this guy is no-good!" Alfred shook him off and grasped Gilbert by the collar.

"Listen here bastard! I'm not gonna stand by and let you corrupt my brother!"

Gilbert looked at the three people bearing down on him. Francis had his hands up in a 'this was not part of the plan' sort of gesture.

"Oh really? Well asshole, who asked you to interrupt?"

"It's my duty to protect my little brother! And I wont let some playboy do whatever he wants!"

"Ha! Says the overhyped hero!"

"Why you-!"

"ENOUGH!"

The entire shop immediately went dead.

Matthew was livid, that was the last straw. "That's enough! I'm sick of all three of you butting in to my personal life! You people ignore me for the better part of a year and _now _you decide to worm your way in?"

"But, Mattie, we only want to-"

"I don't want to hear it Alfred! Just… just piss off!" With that Matthew grabbed his coat and bolted out the café's door.

The four males stood in silence for a few minutes before Gilbert turned to Alfred, "This is your fault you know."

* * *

><p>Gilbert sighed, this has not gone as planned. After the disaster in the coffee shop, Francis had apologized to Gil, saying that that was not how he wanted things to go. Well, at least his friend was there for him.<p>

The albino felt awful for what happened, which was quite unheard of. Usually when things didn't go as planed; he would just laugh it off and use it as an anecdote for later. But Mattie… he was different.

Mattie's house leaked 'lonely'. It was too big for just one person. All the lights were out, was he even home? No time like the present to find out I suppose. Gilbert lightly tapped on the door.

After a few stressful minutes a mop of golden curls peaked from behind the massive door, "H-hello?"

"Hi Mattie."

"Oh, Gil." Matthew looked just a bit relieved.

"Yeah, listen. I just wanted to apologize about today. I totally wasn't being my awesome self, and I know that I probably ruined today for you and you may never want to see me again and I just wanted to say… Sorry."

Matthew opened the door fully now. "It's alright. I had fun. Until my cousins interfered."

"Yeah, that's for sure. Just, thanks for going out with me."

"Not at all."

"Oh…" Gilbert just stood there for a while. What else was there to say? "Well, bye Mattie."

He had barely gone down one step before a voice called out. "Hey Gil?"

"Hmn?"

"I-I'd like to do it again s-sometime. I-If that's alright with you."

The albino jumped back up the stair and put one hand on Matthew's shoulder. He leaned in, barely brushing lips with the blonds. Mn, Matthew tasted like rain and…. maple…. syrup. After a few seconds he pulled away.

"Yeah, I'd like that a lot."

Matthew was as red as a tomato at this point.

"Night Mattie!"

"G-Goodnight Gil." Matthew closed the door.

Gilbert licked his lips.

"Hmn," Gilbert had a shit-eating grin on his face the entire way home.

The morning sun hit Matthew squarely on his eyes, promptly waking him up. It was a crime to have school before noon.

Placing his glasses back onto his face, Matthew made his way to the bathroom. Today had to go normally. Matthew didn't think he could handle any more surprises. Ugh, he would have to deal with his cousins today wouldn't he?

He supposed it could be worse. Aliens could abduct him, dissect and pickle him alive. That seemed like a worse alternative.

No, wait. He would _rather _that.

He couldn't skip today anyway, there was a massive unit final today and he couldn't miss that.

Well, no use fighting it. Let's get this day over with as painless as possible.

The ride to school was normal, as was the first few subjects and the exam. Shit didn't really start hitting the proverbial fan until after lunch.

Matthew had made his way to his locker to pick up a stray textbook, when a clawed arm shot out from his right and soundly closed his locker with a screeching **BANG.**

"_Hello Birdie."_

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><p>Kufufufuf, hope you liked it! Reviews are liked.<p> 


	19. Chapter 17 Like Getting An Arrow

You people are fantastic! I seriously love you all!Thank you so much for all the faves, watches and reviews! (and holy crap! twice in the span of two weeks!)

And i have a bit of a competition in mind. Before the last chapter, (dont worry ill tell you when it is) the first person to give me a list of the most references ive used in the story will get a free one-two shot of their choice (dosent matter what fandom, genera or rating!) Second place gets a one shot, and third gets a drabble. Think its good? Please respond with feedback! Its loved!

* * *

><p>Ch. 17 Like Getting an Arrow Through the Neck, and Finding There's a Gas Bill Attached.<p>

Arthur rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hands. Things had not gone according to plan yesterday. He would not be surprised if Matthew hated all three of them for a while.

The Brit was so deep in thought that he must have jumped a meter when Breaana flew up to his ear. He tottaly forgot that he had sent her to spy- er- keep an eye on the poor boy.

Once his heart had calmed down, he was ready to hear what she had to say. She leaned over and started to explain everything she had seen.

…

He had to find Matthew, and fast.

* * *

><p>"W-wh-what are y-y-you t-talking about G-Gilbert?"<p>

"Why Birdie it's obvious. I can't believe I didn't see it sooner." Gilbert leaned in, lips brushing against his ear. "You're the Grim Reaper."

Matthew's eyes were as large as the freaking moon. He was completely, utterly and right royally screwed.

"Hey, Gil!" Someone down the hall yelled.

Gilbert turned for just a second, and Matthew saw his chance. With all the power in his arms, he pushed Gilbert and ran as fast as he freaking could. Leaving a gaping and confused albino in the dust.

Matthew was on the other side of the school when he finally stopped running. Grasping the stair railing so tight his knuckles turned white. He was panicking, breathing hard with his knees threatening to give out on him. Wait, calm down. Don't panic. Deep breathes. Remember what Tomas taught you. …. Actually, he never really had gotten around to telling him what to do if someone who you really like, (as more than a friend) finds out your alter ego, is a massive loud mouth and has connections to your family while simultaneously not being able to bash the memory out of said person.

Fuck it, he was panicking. Time to call the boss and explain shit.

Matthew whipped out his com, and dialed Tom's work number.

He was immediately booted to his secretary.

* * *

><p>"Sorry Mr. William's but Mr. Kirkland hasn't been in all day. Do you wish to leave a message?"<p>

"O-oh, no thank you. I'll try again later."

Something was off. Tom was never late to work. (Matthew swore that Arthur got his high-strung attitude from his brothers). Matthew worried his lower lip between his teeth. Maybe he was…I dunno sick? He'd try his communicator. Tom never went anywhere without it.

"_The number you have dialed, is not available at this time. If you wish-"_

There was a simple explanation to this. Pity he couldn't think of one. M-maybe Tom just wasn't answering his phone, yeah. He could be at Finn's or something, laying low.

Matt dialed Finn's number.

"_The number you have dia-"_

Matthew swallowed hard. His hands were shaking as he punched in Nick's number.

"_The number y-"_

Jean-marc?

"_The num-"_

The grip on his phone went slack; he stumbled to lean against the wall. Never had all four of them been missing. He took a deep breath. Maybe some of the other DA members would know where they were.

:32 Calls later:

Not one had picked up.

Matthew felt like the floor had been ripped from under him. Wh- what was going on? They couldn't be… 'I-I mean they _can't_ be-' No, he refused to believe that the strongest people he knew were… _dead._

"Ok, Ok, not a disaster. Not a disaster." Matthew whispered to himself. He was biting his lips, a habit he picked up when he was little, until he tasted iron in his mouth.

So… now what?

He was the last full operative of DA, with only three in training as backup. Every one of his colleagues was MIA, and to top it off Gilbert had found out his secret identity!

Things could not get any worse!

"Matthew! Wait!"

The blond turned to find his British cousin gasping for air as if he had run a marathon. Once he had caught his breath, the Britt asked him one question.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

And Matthew knew what he was talking about.

(Thank you Murphy's law.)

Hooray! More running!

Matthew sprinted down the hallway. Fully intent on running away from his problems, and not stopping till either he_ died_ or half of them went away.

Well lets just stick to plan A. and hope things turn out somewhat alright.

Matthew was jumping stairs 2 at a time, racing to get to the nurses office. Maybe he could get another vial of that stuff. He'd just grab one of the damned things, drive to Yong-Soo's and Koaru's house, explain things to them, call Romano, get home, grab Kuma and a few things then hightail it out of there like a bat-let-outta-hell.

He dodged dozens of classmates, bumping in to one or two here and there, and skidded to a stop right outside Ms. Braginski's door.

"Ms. Braginski!" **Bang Bang** "Ms Braginski!"

Matthew had to stop himself before he accidentally hit Ms. Braginski in the face as she opened the door. "Oh, Matvey! Back so soon? Where are you hurt?"

"Actually Ms. Braginski, I was wondering if you had any more of that red stuff you gave me a few days ago?"

"Hmn? Oh! You mean the Generals new drug. Sorry Matvey, but no," Matthew's stomach ached. "For some reason, he asked to take it back. Something about retesting." Miss Braginski saw that Matthew was a bit pale before adding, "Don't worry. He said that it was just for commercial purposes. There was nothing wrong with it. It shouldn't cause you any problems."

'Like hell it won't' he sneered in his head. "Thanks anyway!" He turned and tried not to run out the door looking suspicious. (Spoiler, it didn't work.)

Ok. So screw plan A. with a claymore.

Plan B. Go straight home, grab Kumamu and find somewhere to bunk out until it was safe.

His bike was still in the parking lot luckily. He threw his bag in the saddlebag, and was in such a hurry he forwent his helmet as he raced out to the main road.

* * *

><p>As Matthew drove up his driveway, he could hear his heart pounding in his ears. Adrenalin hammering through his veins as he wrenched open the front door and ran through the foyer.<p>

"Kuma? Kuma!"

A mumbled 'Who' came from the couch in the living room. Matthew sighed in relief.

"C'mon Kuma, we need to go. Now." The Canadian scooped the polar bear cub in his arms, and was about to run upstairs to grab a premade 'panic' duffle bag, when his com went off.

It was a simple text that read:

**Run.**

**For God's sake run.**

**-B.**

Matthew barely read over who had sent it before the sound of squealing tires assaulted his ears.

It was just one of those days wasn't it?

He didn't have more than 20 seconds by how far the vehicle sounded. No time to grab anything, or even lock up the house. Matthew bolted back out the door, not bothering to close it behind him. Re-stradled the seat of his bike, kicked it to life and was turning down a street with Kumajurio in his lap before he heard what sounded like a very heavy and armored vehicle skid to a stop in front of his house.

Well. Fuck.

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><p>Im evil arent I? i will be updating sooner dont worry! PLEASE READ THE TOP AN!<p> 


	20. Chapter 18 I Used To Be

Holy cow! This took longer than expected! But we get to see that Al's life isn't all sunshine and roses. Thank you so much everyone who faved, watched etc. We are only 5-6 chapter away from the end! The next one will be up by next Friday!

The reference thing is still going on, but wait till the second last chapter to message me bout them kay? Thanks so much for waiting and enjoy.

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><p>Ch. 18 I Used To Be a Teenager Like You, But Then I Took a Super Power To The Knee<p>

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><p>Jack's apartment smelled like beer and smoke, but at least he had a room to himself.<p>

Ughn, last night had not gone according to plan.

Matthew rolled over to come face to face with a pair of glaring eyes, owned by one evil marsupial. The shout he gave once his eyes adjusted to what he was looking at was _not _a girly scream, thank you very much.

"Oy! Matt! You alright?" Jack popped his head in the room.

"Would you please keep your demented koala from trying to maul me with his gaze in my sleep?" Matthew deadpanned as he held up the koala at arms length so Jack could see.

"Oh, and that white ball of claws and teeth you call a polar bear is all cuddly and roses." The Aussie pointed to the white mass sleeping on Matthew's feet on the bed.

"He is to me." Matthew mumbled.

Jack stepped further into the room. "You seen the news?"

"No, why? What happened?"

"Same thing that's been going on for a while." He shrugged.

"More missing abilities?" The blond slipped his glasses on his face.

"Yeah, but this is a bit different." Jack passed Matthew the day's paper.

The blond sat up, scratching his head. His eyes scanning over the print slowly. "Oh~h dear.", Matthew rubbed his hands over his face, "this is not good."

"Yep," Jack plucked the paper out of Matt's hand. "Not only have adults lost their abilities, but now it seems that the young ones are too."

"Grea~t. **Sigh** This just keeps getting better every day." Matthew pinched the bridge of his nose. Maybe he should sod the whole business and go into accounting.

* * *

><p>After a quick hot shower, Matthew felt so much better (odd how much a good hot shower makes you feel better) and started to make breakfast for Jack.<p>

"**Who~ot** 5 new messages and 56 new texts Matt." Jack was flipping through his phone, Matt let him borrow it last night after he put it on 'airplane' mode. Jack had wanted to play 'Angry Birds'. He probably had been for most of the night.

"Oh yeah? From who?" Matthew set down two plates full of delicious breakfast food.

"So far you've got two messages from what sounds like a raving Italian, one from a limey, one from a Frenchmen, and one from someone who didn't say much."

Romano, Arthur, Francis and Koaru.

"And the texts?"

"You got spammed by some guy you put as 'IMTHEHERO', he's sent most of these, as well as 'TeaLover', 'l'Amour' and ''Lovi."

Alfred (he thought he changed that name to 'Twit' a few nights ago), Arthur, Francis and Romano again.

"They're all just wondering where you went, really. And the spammer dude just keeps asking if you're mad at him."

"Ah. Just forget it. I'll call the important people on your phone later today." Matthew picked a bit at the pancakes he made for the two of them, "So how long has this power thing been going on?"

The brunet shrugged, "Your guess is as good as mine. The papers are only reporting this now 'cause it's a whole lot more people, and brats on top of that."

"Careful Jack, we're brats."

He flashed a grin, "Yep, but at least we admit that." Jack glanced at the paper "But now that kids from Hetalia High are becoming 'norms, shit's gonna get real." The Aussie sighed, "d' you even know _why _this might be happening?"

"Not really, no. If it was a virus, why have kids only been affected now, and even before, only low name Meta's were getting this, not big ones. So we can rule sickness out. Both heroes and villains are victims so we can rule out vengeance on either side of the feud."

"So where does that leave us?"

"Well, it could be an attack on Metas from an outside sourse, like a government or an organization, but a government would have taken more steps to not become detected by the media, or at least direct the blame somewhere, and an organization looking to overthrow Metas would have probably sent out a press release or a video or something."

"Which means?"

"The only other option would be either someone trying to restart the world as the sole Meta, or the planets have finally aligned in such a way that something has been let out of its imprisonment from the bowels of the earth and has started to toy with us mere mortals."

"That last one doesn't seem that likely. At least not for another seven weeks." Matthew didn't want to know why Jack had such a specific date.

"Right." Matthew leaned back and rubbed at his eyes. "On top of all that, my colleagues are missing and I have the sneaking suspicion that someone wants me dead."

"What's so new 'bout that?" Jack shoved a bit of sausage into his mouth.

"It normally wouldn't be, but what makes it different is the fact that the person who has a red dot sight pointed between my eyes is more than likely one of my teachers."

Jack gave a low whistle. "You just can't catch a break can you?"

"Aside from bones, nope."

Matthew glanced at the clock. Seemed like a good enough time to talk to a raving Italian. "I'm borrowing your phone, kay?"

"Yeah, sure. It's on the end table."

"Thanks."

Matthew plucked the slick black cell and walked out to the balcony. No one had picked up, but that was expected. Koaru and Yong Soo's family was super protective, and it wouldn't surprise Matthew if Yao had locked them in their house.

Romano's phones were busy, but once again, that would be normal. Romano's grandpa was the head of Hetalia after all. And Antonio was probably taking up all of Romano's minutes.

The blond fiddled with the phone in his hand for a few minutes, contemplating calling his cousins. It would tell him that they were ok but…. What would he say after that?

'Oh yeah, don't worry bout me. I'm just afraid that the next time I walk outside I may be dragged off by a massive armored van?' That would go over real well. He pocketed the cell and pushed off the balconies guard rail.

Matthew scratched his arm absentminded, pins and needles ran up his arm. He must have been resting his arm on a nerve.

Once inside, Jack's koala bounded between his feet, making him fall face first into the floor.

**BANG**

Matthew shivered, it felt like his arms were stuck in ice water. Which wasn't too far from the truth. Once he had opened his eyes, Matthew found the hand that he had fallen on was stuck to the floor with ice, ice that spread from his hand out in a web like circle for about a meter radius.

It looked like he had frozen the floor.

There was silence, and then chaos.

"HOLY SHIT! What the hell man?"

Matthew stared at the hand that didn't break his fall. All over the skin, tiny webs of ice blue had woven their way along the surface. His fingernails were cool blue, and if he didn't move them, his fingertips frosted over.

"I thought you didn't have any powers!"

"I didn't!"

"So explain that!" Jack pointed to the now frozen floor.

Matthew gaped for a second "I can't!"

"What, all the sudden you get the power to freeze shit! How the fuck does that work?"

"Believe me Jack, if I knew what the fuck was going on, I would tell you. Now help me out of here!" Matthew was furiously pulling at his other hand, still incased in the ice.

Jack stood back and took stock of what was going on in his apartment. One of his best friends was stuck in a really awkward position on his floor, his koala was trying and failing to walk along the now frozen hardwood, and Matthew's polar bear was sitting on a block of ice that had to be at least half its size, gliding around the room with this dopey expression on its face.

Right now he needed just one thing. Beer. And lots of it.

* * *

><p>This was extremely not good. Alfred rubbed his eyes. His entire world had just gone to hell in a hand basket in a blink of an eye. Oh god, how was he supposed to lead a bunch of young heroes when he, the leader, didn't have a clue what to do?<p>

Alfred had been able to keep everyone from panicking at least, they were to keep in constant contact in case something happened. Right now he was camping out with about 10 other heroes in Iggy's house.

He rubbed at his temples. This was just not his day.

So far it was the popular opinion that some villain had started this whole…_thing._ And it had taken him the better part of a day to calm everyone down long enough so they didn't go to war.

Alfred checked his phone. Matthew still hadn't texted or called him. He sighed. It wasn't like he _tried_ to forget Matthew, it just happened. He did realize that intervening at the exact point that he did, was not the best timing.

Knowing his bro though, he would just have to wait until he talked to him. He couldn't force Mattie to talk to him when he didn't want to. He was freaking scary when mad.

Arthur popped his head into Alfred's old room. "Alfred? Any word from the lad?"

"No, not yet. And I'm getting worried. What if he gets hit by this epidemic-thingy?"

"He's a strong lad, he'll be fine. And besides, he wouldn't let something as stupid as a little feud get over his personal safety. He'll call soon enough." At least, Arthur hoped he would. Arthur really needed to talk to him. And fast.

* * *

><p>4:22 pm Jack's Apartment<p>

"This is deeply weird man." Matthew mumbled, still staring at the blue tinge that has now made its way up to his shoulders, up his neck and face, and down the sides of his chest. It wasn't until about an hour ago that Matthew figured out how to keep from letting his skin freeze over.

"I'll say. I've heard of people unlocking powers when they're older, but they've never come so sporadically."

"Yeah, I'm a textbook case of 'Fuck-if-I-know'." Matthew's breath now only came out in clouds in front of his face. His whole torso now felt like it was stuck in arctic waters. "This better not stay with me forever or else I'm gonna be pissed."

"What, you don't want your popsicle to be frozen for the rest of your life?" Jack wiggled his eyebrows.

"Fuck you and your mother, Jack."

"Piss off ice cube."

That night had been weird to say the least. Matthew kept waking up sweating buckets, but once he kicked off the sheets, the sweat would freeze and he would end up coated in ice.

Uncomfortable was a very light way of putting it.

Matthew woke up tangled up in sheets, with his polar bear cuddled up to his back. He needed a _very _hot shower.

* * *

><p>Alfred woke up with a massive headache. Last night, more people had lost their abilities. None of them were super powerful, and no one in their house, but it was still disconcerting.<p>

The American rolled over, and pawed for his glasses. They slipped on and Alfred was staring directly at himself and his brother.

The photo on the bedside table had to be four, five years old at least. Alfred had his arms slung around Matthew, both wearing massive grins. Matthew was wearing this weird vest and he was wearing some kind of cowboy ensemble. He remembered they allowed Francis to dress them up.

God had it really been that long since their last family picnic? They used to have them every week in the summer. That was when he and Matthew were inseparable. They would make up games, go and explore, live in their own world. Before... Before Hetalia seemed to drag them apart. He wished he could just crawl back under the covers and forget all of this. Go back to when he could just be a kid.

**"Knock** Alfred? You up?" So much for going back to sleep

"Hm? Yeah. Yeah Iggy I'm up." He rubbed his eyes from under his glasses.

"Well come down as soon as you can. There's some new information."

"Kay, I'll be right down." He heard Arthur's footsteps retreat from his door.

Alfred pressed two fingers to his lips, then to the photo. "I'll protect you Mattie. Promise."

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><p>Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Everything will be explained in due time, dont worry XD<p> 


	21. Chapter 19 Blood On The Walls

Gah! this was supposed to be up sooner but i just got back from Spain!

Thank you so much for all the anon reviewer's. Id say thanks on a line but I have no way of contacting you. (by the way, there is a LOT of slang in this chapter) THanks so much for being with me for almost a year! By the way, this will be longer because unexpected plot point just came in. ALL QUESTIONS WILL BE ANSWERED NEXT CHAPTER! Guaranteed. Alarac is Germanias human name, I had no idea what his real name is.

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><p>Ch. 19 Blood on the Walls<p>

Jack stumbled into his kitchen with his comforter wrapped tight around him. Matthew had been freezing his apartment all night and the Aussie was less than pleased. He was used to plus 20 in the middle of April. Not _minus_ 20.

Well, at least he was cooking him food. Thank the good lord that Matthew got his cooking skills from Francis and not Arthur.

Matthew was at the stove, flipping pancakes. Jack was going to say something with the words 'barefoot' and 'kitchen' but something caught his eye. The light was catching on something on Matt's arm. Or rather, _in _his arm.

Now that was odd.

"Hold still." Jack grasped his arm, shivering at the temperature of Matthews skin, and twisted it slightly. There, just above the elbow, something shiny. He scratched at it but it was obviously in the skin. "Sit down kay?"

"Wha? Jack what are you-"

"Sit."

Matthew plopped down on one of the dinning room chairs. The Aussie came back with a pair of tweezers that he was in the middle of burning with a lighter. The brunet turned Matthews arm until he found the source again.

"Just…. Hold…..Got it!" Jack licked his lips. Whatever this was, it was lodged in tight, and it was _deep_. This would probably hurt. "Alright, I'm gonna pull this out on three."

"Wait, pull what out? Jack!"

"There's something stuck in your arm, now…on three." Matt tensed up a bit; he could feel whatever Jack had caught in between the tweezers.

"One!" Jack pulled at the splinter thing as hard as he could.

"GAHH! I thought you said on THREE!"

"That was funner." Jack examined what he pulled. It was small, no longer than his first thumb joint. Chrome silver with blood staining the metal, it looked like a stinger from a wasp. There was a bead of ice blue liquid sitting on the point.

"You ever… hey, you ok?" His original question died on his tongue.

Matthew had begun to fan himself with his hands. The room felt like it was getting hotter by the second and his skin felt like it was on fire. "I'll be ok. Have I ever what?" He pulled off his shirt, trying to stay cool. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the blue webs under his skin slowly retreating down his arms. Wherever the lines left, unbearable heat replaced it.

"Have you ever seen something like this?" He held up the stinger for Matthew to see.

Matthew tilted his head. "Almost looks like a needle."

"Yeah, kinda does." Jack twisted the tweezers so the metal cached the light.

The Canadian licked his lips, salt assaulting his tongue. He was sweating profusely and panting now.

Matthew pressed his hands to his face, desperate to cool himself down, even _if_ he encased his neck in ice. When even the frosty feeling in his hands had been swapped for fiery heat, Matthew tried to force himself to freeze his hands.

It was like trying to flex a muscle that he didn't know where it was.

"Matt?" Jack's voice broke him out of his trance.

"I'm-I'm ok. At least I think I am."

Jack's gaze turned scrutinizing. He pushed a glass of juice in front of Matthew, "Freeze this."

Tentatively, the Canadian griped the glass in a tight fist and grimaced. Thinking of winter, ice and frost. When he opened his eyes, the glass was still liquid and room temperature.

Jack scratched at his stubble. "You weren't kidding, you are 'fuck-if-I-know'."

Hello table, you and head are having breakfast I assume?

* * *

><p>Hetalia High School 9:00 PM<p>

Gilbert knew this was stupid and dangerous and all of them would probably get into trouble later, but the adult's weren't telling them anything. Besides, what was the point of being evil if he didn't break the rules (or law) once in a while.

In the shadows of the school's cafeteria, dozens of the most powerful students gathered. Heroes and villains alike, all scared and clueless. Gilbert found a bit weird, half of these people had tried to kill him at one point or another. Amazing what a common fear can do to grudges.

The Prussian rubbed his eyes. No one had seen Matthew for the past three days, and you could see the toll it was taking on the three cousins.

Alfred looked more tired each day, Francis was loosing his healthy 'glow' and Arthur looked more and more scruffy by the passing hour.

To be fair though, Gilbert wasn't doing much better. Had Matthew fled because he had found out his secret? Did any of his family know? God this was so unawesome.

Right now, there were a lot of side conversations, no one really had a plan to talk this all out. Gilbert could see Ludwig getting ready to try and get everyone on task. He would probably stay out of it, he didn't know any more than most of these people.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Arthur subtly trying to get his attention. Tilting his head slightly, motioning with his eyes to the door.

_Out there?_

Gilbert nodded. _Sure._

* * *

><p>Arthur looked a lot less pompous with his hair disheveled and massive bags under his eyes. With one last glance, Arthur closed the door to the cafeteria, leaving the two of them in semi darkness and silence.<p>

"Listen, I know we don't exactly get along, but right now that doesn't seem to matter." Arthur kept running a hand through his hair. "You and I seem to be the last people who saw Matthew and I'll be frank. I am worried sick because of his disappearance on top of this whole business."

"So you think he's missing?"

"To be honest, I thought that the first day we didn't hear from him, but I couldn't go and tell Alfred that, he would destroy half the city looking for him."

The two stood in tense silence for a moment before, "Do, I mean, do you know about, you know." Gilbert prompted, hoping to get what he meant across.

"If you are referring to Matthew's night job that we have all been too thick to notice, than yes. So far I am the only one on our side to know, you?"

"Just found out a few days ago. Everyone else seems a bit too out of it to figure it out." Gilbert sighed. "Birdie pulling a disappearing act is not making anything easier."

"Do you have a plan? None of us have been able to contact him."

"Seems like Birdie doesn't want to be found. Until we hear from _him, _I don't think we'll be contacting him at all."

Arthur nodded in defeat. A noise from inside the cafeteria caught his attention. "Come on, it sound's like they are actually discussing things of importance."

"One more thing Englishman," Arthur turned to face him again. "Not a word of this to anyone, right?"

The Brit mulled it over for a few seconds, before giving a sharp nod.

* * *

><p>Roma pulled at his hair. Over the last three days, the world had been rocked to it's core. Hundreds of Metas all over the globe were reporting in with missing abilities. None of the ones remaining were going to risk helping him and the school out. Didn't they realize that these kids were their top priority? Roma really didn't care if ones without powers showed up. They needed help! Thank heavens that his precious grandsons were at Alaric's house along with Ludwig and Gilbert.<p>

A knock sounded from his study door.

The dean stood from his desk, and made his way to the door.

Roma took a deep breath and barked out, "Who's there?".

"Just me." A smooth voice called out.

"Oh thank god." The dean opened the door. "I'm glad it's you. This whole business has me on edge." The man nodded in agreement. "Thank you for all your help by the way. I don't know how we would have survived without you."

"Think nothing of it." The man paused, looking thoughtful, "Although, there is something you _could _do for me."

"What is that?"

"Try not to scream." In an instant, all the Dean can see is cool, blue, blinding light.

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><p>Alfred was now counting ten days. Ten days since anyone had seen or heard from Matthew, ten days since the school had been shut down.<p>

And nine days since they had started these meetings.

Since then less and less people had been showing up. It wasn't just this epidemic thing, people were vanishing from right under their noses. Romano and Veliciano were not doing remotely well. Their Grandpa had been MIA for a while now.

Tensions were running high, and people were snapping at each other left and right. Thank whatever almighty power, that he and Ludwig have been able to keep things toned down.

Another fight had broken out between Arthur and Francis.

"You bloody wanker!"

"Ha! Az if zat is the worst anyone haz said to me you limey!"

"Why you-"

Augh, he needed some air. They could run things for a few minutes without him.

Alfred wandered the dark halls of Hetalia with a sense of melancholy. The hallways weren't meant to be this dead. The dark shadows and vacant space made Alfred shiver.

His thoughts wandred to his baby brother. How could he still be missing? The American looked along the halls, remembering all the times he had seen Matthew alone, while he was flanked by his entourage and friends. He knew it wasn't right, but it wasn't like he didn't try.

He sighed. Maybe….Maybe things would have been different if he had kept on living with Arthur and Matthew.

But right now wasn't the time to think on how things _could_ have been. Matthew was out there somewhere, and things wouldn't get done by hoping the world would go his way.

Something was making him jumpy, Alfred breathed through his nose. There was something off in the smell of teenagers and a musty old school.

"Cologne?" Alfred questioned.

"Hello young hero." Alfred turned around so fast, he felt the muscles in his neck jam.

That's when the screams started.

* * *

><p>Matthew was getting antsy in Jack's apartment. For the last week and a bit, Jack had gone out to try and gather any information, and each night Matthew was afraid that he wouldn't be coming back.<p>

The Canadian stayed on edge until the sound of a key easily sliding into the lock. Jack stumbled in, looking worn out but otherwise fine.

"You alright?" Matthew handed him a glass of water at the table.

"'M'fine. Got some info on what the students are doing."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, for the last two weeks or so they've been meeting up in Hetalia. None of the teachers know and it looks pretty discreet, but I wouldn't expect that to stay for long." Matthew was already on his feet.

"You're not going there now are you?"

"Well I'm not going for a coffee run." Coat, bag, keys, was that everything?

"Matt, this is suicidal! You can't just head out now, what if Winters finds you?"

"Then I improvise." Oh, right Kuma. The bear was looking at him with eyes that only Bambi should have. "I'll be back by tomorrow night, if not, don't bother searching for me. Get out while you can, and try to hook up with anyone alright?" Matthew leaned down and hugged Kuma one more time.

"Matt." Jack grabbed his arm before he could head out the door. "Be safe, you hear?"

"Yeah. See you tonight."

"Right."

The door clicked shut behind him.

* * *

><p>Hetalia was deserted.<p>

Matthew took in the blood splattered walls and debris with a growing sense of dread. What the hell had happened? The fluorescent lights flickered above, making the entire school look like a horror video game.

"Hello?" His voice echoed through the dark halls. A few moments later, he called again, "Hello?"

"Hello Matthew." A calm voice answered.

He whirled around, eyes widening, "YOU!"

* * *

><p>Gah! another cliff hanger. But on the plus side, there are only 3 people that could be the mystery person. And if you didnt see this from a mile away, i haven't set the scene right.! NEXT CHAPTER ANSWERS ALL QUESTIONS! Im just stuck on the pacing of it. It will be up on Sunday (Or monday depending on where you are.)<p> 


	22. Chapter 20 The Nightmare Begins

This came out faster than expected. Hope you guys like it! By the way, i was listening to Little Sister by miracle of sound for Matthew's less than awake moments.

Thanks so much for everyone's support!

And as a note, next chapter will be the start of the reference contest. The first three people to message me with the longest list of references that i used (there are almost 50 ish) will get a free fan fic of their choice (with varying lengths)

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><p>Ch. 21 The Nightmare Begins<p>

Matthew probably should have seen this coming.

The General greeted him with a warm smile, "Hello Matthew, or do you go by Grim Reaper more often now?"

Matthew choked on his saliva. He took a deep breath, "Just Matthew. What brings you to school after hours General? Or can I call you Serge?"

The General gave a deep chuckle, "You obviously know." He stepped out of the shadows, dressed in a well-fitted suit, still wearing an eye patch and looking all the merrier.

"I'm here to see my prize work."

"Your prize work?"

"Yes Matthew, months of sneaking around and giving false leads. Of working from the bottom up, it all has come to fruition."

Matthew must have had a deer-in–the-headlights look, because the General sighed and gave Matthew a bit of a condescending look. "Surely you must know that everything that has happened to you this year, from the abilities disappearing, to the students going at each others throats, was all my doing?"

The General fiddled with his eye patch for a moment.

Wait a second, hold on. Matthew knows the General's powers, he has the freezing kind. (There really needed to be a scientific name for powers, seriously). It makes no sense on how he could be responsible for _everything_ that has happened to Matthew. But if he really was Serge, he would have a different power. But that makes no sense. Unless he had a second power. …Or if… Something tugged at the back of Matthews mind. It was super rare, and even more so if the General had another power. But it would fit. All the missing abilities. It would make sense if…

"You can lock and unlock abilities, _that's_ your power! You're the reason everyone is loosing their powers, it's you!" No wonder no one had thought of this. The ability was so rare and unstable, it was so unlikely that someone would have it as well as another.

"Why, yes Matthew." The General looked surprisingly pleased. "I can bestow, borrow or negate powers." Serge pressed his index and middle finger to his eye patch. When he pulled away, a trail of frost followed. "Of course the first power I ever borrowed has stayed with me, hence my name.

"This gift of mine has been quite useful. I can tell you exactly how a person gets their powers. What makes it tick, how to tear it down to the basic essence and turn it inside out. I have brought the greatest to their knees. And the rest of the world is none the wiser.

"What's more, I have found a way to replicate abilities into a serum that can be given to any one. The drug can also be tailored to the hosts' genetics. And as an added bonus, my scientists have found a way to administer it without any trace."

The General pulled off a glove and revealed a small needle with a cylinder attached. Perfect for a small dosage. "I'm sure you are familiar with this?"

Matthew gasped and clutched his shoulder. No way. That one time-

"_Hmn, it seems you may need some more control homework, Gilbert." The General placed a hand on Matthews shoulder, "And I do believe you should take Mr. Williams to the infirmary Mr. Im" General Winter helped keep Matthew steady, keeping a firm hand on his shoulder._

He hadn't noticed any bruise from the needle because of the bruises already there. Matthew was on the verge of hyperventilating. This was too much information.

"T-That's how you can steal abilities from across the globe! You don't have to be there yourself, you just give a lackey your power and let them do it for you!"

"Correct again Matthew. Unfortunately the effects of the serum are not permanent, not yet anyway. And you seem to be the only subject I have found that is capable of taking on more than just one kind….

"You are quite versatile Matthew." He gave the Canadian a smirk.

"The first injection would have manifested much sooner, but the inhibitor that Ms. Braginski unwittingly gave you allowed it to fester until you arrived at your home. It also gave me an excellent decoy. Giving the wrong information to your peers was the perfect way to get them off my trail. " He chuckled.

"Y-You knew everything, from the start. Me being the Reaper, Devils Advocate. You didn't send that car to catch me; you sent that armored car to scare me out. To make sure I fled. You wanted to make sure I would go out on my own."

He choked, voice cracking, "You planed this. All of this."

"Well not all of it. I must say you're little stunt with running to your friend in the underground that night put a bit of a crimp in giving you the second dose."

"The ice powers?"

"The technical term is Cryokinesis, but yes. One of my personal favorites. But we found you easily enough."

The pins and needles up his arm, that stinger, oh god everything was falling into place.

Matthew swallowed hard. "So now that you have me cornered, what do you want? You just needed a lab rat?" Matthew could see himself strapped to a table, doctors injecting him constantly.

"Oh, of course not. Honestly Matthew, you underestimate yourself."

Matthew was lost. What did he need him for if not a test subject. Wasn't that what he was for the last few months?

"I have the means to give anyone any power they desire. No persuasion or tactics needed to coax a person that your side is for the best. No, now I can give anyone who will work for me the needed powers without any problems. And now that I know that multiple powers are possible, the applications are endless!

"And what would my new organization be without the greatest success of this endeavor?" Serge fixed his ice blue eye straight on Matthew.

"Y-you don't mean..." Matthew pointed to himself.

"Well of course Matthew. You have training and you can use multiple abilities. I would be ignorant to not bring you into my agency. I admit I was quite surprised when your cells responded to multiple doses in the lab testing. But that only shows your potential worth."

"When did you-?"

Oh… The explosion when he saved Lars. His blood was all over the warehouse, how could he be so _STUPID!_

Matthew took a few deep breaths and paused to gather his thoughts. "And you think I'm going to just drop everything and blindly join your cause?"

The General, Serge, stopped pacing. "Think about it Matthew, anything you wish, at your disposal. You could be unfathomably powerful. Have you never been jealous at your family? Ever wished to be like them?" He held out his ungloved hand, "Here is your chance to become more than you ever dreamed."

There was a tense moment of silence before Matthew deadpanned, "You're kidding right? No way! I never even WANTED those powers to begin with you nutca-!" Serge had shot forward and gripped his neck like a vice. For a man wearing a Louis Vuitton suit, he was surprisingly strong. The General lifted Matthew off of the ground, holding him at arms reach. Matthew was so focused at clawing at the hand limiting air into his lungs, he didn't even notice Serge pull a syringe from his suit coat.

"Unfortunately, Matthew, you have very little say in the matter." The General moved as fast as lightning, striking the needle directly into Matthews shoulder. The General let him drop to the ground. Matthew managed a few wobbly steps before fog swirled in his vision and he fell. His skull hitting the ground with a resounding 'crack'.

Cutting through the haze of his mind like a razor blade, he heard Serge say one more thing,

"Pleasant dreams, my assassin."

* * *

><p>The world was white.<p>

All around Alfred, white clothing, white sheets, white sink, white curtain surrounding the white toilet. The only thing not white were the four glass walls of his cell.

Footsteps sounded from down the hall. Alfred hastily sat down against one of the cell walls, and closed his eyes.

Kiku had taught Alfred how to empty his mind, a good defense against telepaths. To anyone who looked into his mind, it would seem like he was in a dreamless sleep.

At this time, the skill was invaluable. Their guard, a woman in her early thirties flitted through each persons mind, making sure that they were going to stay put. As she turned to Alfred, he could feel her mind, all sharp edges, run through his for a moment. Once she had turned down another hall, he allowed himself to shiver.

Opening his eyes, Alfred was able to see everyone else inside the clear cells. There were probably two rows of cells, twelve cells along for each hallway.

With some difficulty, he could make out a couple of faces. Feliciano, Koaru, Yao, a couple of the Nordic brothers, and a few he didn't recognize, but all definitely from Hetalia. Most looking scared and lost. Well here is where everyone went. At least they were alive.

He didn't remember much, just a lot of screaming and running. He passed out pretty fast, when he was hit with a massive amount of mental force. When he woke up, he had no powers.

Alfred scratched his arms, he was uncomfortable in his own skin. The normal thrumming in his muscles was gone, his senses dulled to a point that nothing made sense any more. How could anyone live like this?

The steady, heavy footfalls of two guards brought Alfred's attention to the front of his cell. Two hulking men dressed in heavy looking grey armor were carrying a stretcher holding a limp body.

His eyesight may be dampened, but he still saw the wavy blond hair and babyish face with perfect clarity.

"MATTHEW!" Alfred could see bandages covering part of his face, but it was still his baby brother. Looking two days dead, blood matted into part of his hair and skin looking translucent. Neither of the guards bothered a glance at him, the super proof glass all but muted his cry.

Alfred's breath caught in his throat. Memories flooding back. A broken wrist, a limp, a scream, and blood, blood, _blood._ He swallowed, the memories refusing to go back to the recesses of his mind.

Alfred's powers had come out shortly after birth, (He still remembered his dad talking about how he broke the doctors finger just minutes after being born) and he hadn't gotten control over them when Matthew came to live with him and Arthur. The first time, Alfred broke Matthews wrist. He was dragging his cousin along and accidentally squeezed too hard. He still feels sick when he hears the crunch of bones breaking. Over the years he had accidentally broken more of Matthew's bones than he cared to think about, burned him, gave him frostbite, and threw him out a two-story window.

'The Fall' (As Alfred had dubbed it) was the worst one. He didn't know that he had the ability, and when it suddenly manifested, Matthew was the unlucky target. The force of Alfred's sonic scream was enough to hurl his cousin across the room and through a closed window. When Alfred ran to the window, all he could see below was shattered glass, his cousin lying in the grass and blood. _So much blood!_

After seeing Matthew in the hospital, all bandages and wires and _pale, _Alfred decided to be a Hero. The American worked harder at that than anything else in his life. He wanted to protect people, he wanted to be able to protect _Matthew_ from whatever was thrown at him.

Now all he could do was watch as his brother was carried down the hall, looking as susceptible as a rag doll.

Once the goons had carried Matthew not into a cell, like Alfred expected, but through another door, Alfred walked to the front of his cell, fisting his right hand so hard he felt the skin beginning to tear.

"Don't worry, Matt. I'll get us out,"

Blood dripped in between his fingers.

"I promise."

* * *

><p>Fog.<p>

Clouded.

_I need to get out of here._

_Wait…_

_Why? _

_Who…_

Soft light.

Sun.

_Can't…_

_Remember._

_Soft. Too hard to think. Sleep. _

'**Neural Patterns: Normal. Continuing Surveillance. '**

_Voices. _

_Sleep,_

_Will all be clear in the morning._

* * *

><p>Arthur was beginning to think that he was running through a rat maze. When the General attacked, he and a few others escaped. Looking back, he should have probably seen the attack coming.<p>

Right now he was in an alleyway with about two other people who had escaped. Along with him right now, Gilbert and Kiku. Not two people he knew well, but what the hell, if you're going down, best not to do it alone.

The three of them had been running since the attack. It had been more than 4 hours ago.

Downtown, every noise was making them jump.

A figure appeared down the alleyway.

"Who's there?" Gilbert shouted.

A young man with a fedora and only a vest appeared. He had a koala and… Wasn't that Kumajirou?

"A friend of the Reaper." He had an Australian accent, and he looked as haggard as they did.

Arthur breathed a sigh of relief.

* * *

><p>So, i hope this answered more questions than raised them. Feel free to message me if its still confusing.<p> 


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